Overview
- President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was received by Alexander Van der Bellen with military honours at Vienna’s Josefsplatz, with First Ladies Elke Büdenbender and Doris Schmidauer in attendance.
- The program features meetings with National Council President Walter Rosenkranz, Chancellor Christian Stocker and Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig, followed by a state banquet.
- This marks the first state visit by a German president to Austria in 28 years, the previous one having been Roman Herzog’s trip in 1997.
- A joint position paper released ahead of the visit calls for Europe to reinvent itself, strengthen its defense capability and include partners such as the United Kingdom and Norway.
- Scheduled events include opening the new German embassy at Metternichgasse 3 on Wednesday and a Thursday inspection of the Brenner Base Tunnel construction in Tyrol with Governor Anton Mattle and a stop in Innsbruck.