Alpbach Forum: “New Europe” is Escaping Forward

The ambitions in the European Forum Alpbach were plain to see, but so were the limitations to longstanding promises – like the further integration of the Balkans – which have been so delayed they now feel broken. Nevertheless, the focus was on the future for new Europeans, even if that future feels increasingly uncertain.

In August 1945, when Europe lay in ruins and American troops were stationed alongside their Soviet counterparts in Berlin, a group of Austrian freedom fighters decided to run discussions on the fate of Europe. Equipped with American cigarettes and petrol obtained from a US army depot in Innsbruck, they bargained their way through and hosted discussions in peasant cottages in the high Alpine village of Alpbach. 77 years later, the European Forum Alpbach is one of the most important summits where politicians, experts, scholars and businesspeople discuss crucial developments for our continent.

For two weeks, this small mountain resort transforms into an informal capital of Europe – a dazzling place with dark limousines, people dressed in suits and thousands of delegates running in all directions, displaying their conference badges. At night, armed with a Weizenbier in a bar called “Jacober” one can bump into a president, CEO or Nobel Prize laureate.

The Agenda

The forum addressed the most pressing issues over those two weeks – the war in Ukraine, Russian sanctions, the energy crisis, climate change, the Western Balkans, technological sovereignty, social inequality and many more. The theme of this year’s edition was “New Europe”, meaning one that would overcome the consequences of its current weakness and past inaction.