Spain’s Foreign Minister visits Vienna.
Wien. The pandemic and the fuss about vaccinations were the focus of the visit of the Spanish Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, to Vienna on Friday. Spain, which has been hard hit in terms of health and economy, is looking for ways to revive tourism.
The minister sees the EU vaccination certificate as a way to safely receive guests again. She was supported in this by her Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg. Vienna is also campaigning for a Green Pass. The EU Commission will present plans to do so on Wednesday, but some EU countries are skeptical.
“No vaccination nationalism”
Schallenberg and González Laya made it clear that tourism is an essential economic factor for both countries. Therefore one has to work together to vaccinate as many people as possible and to give them a “feeling of freedom” again. There should be no “vaccination nationalism”. After all, an end to the pandemic is only realistic if many people in all countries have been immunized.
If there was an unequal distribution of vaccines within the EU, as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday, it was a matter of errors that had happened in the joint effort, said Schallenberg. Gónzalez Laya stated that there should be “no second or third class citizens” in the fight against Covid. But this does not only apply to EU citizens, solidarity must apply beyond Europe’s borders.
The 51-year-old was unknown in Spain when Social Democratic Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made her Foreign Minister in 2020. The independent lawyer was spokeswoman for the EU Commission for Trade and advisor to EU Commissioner Pascal Lamy from 2002 to 2005. Trade and economy are also among the core competencies of the staunch EU supporter. (APA)
(“Die Presse”, print edition, March 13th, 2021)
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