Van der Bellen brings five heads of state to Tyrol

Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen is hosting five heads of state from German-speaking countries in his home state of Tyrol, ORF reported. The meeting begins in Innsbruck on Tuesday before moving to Alpbach on Wednesday, where the European Forum Alpbach is taking place.

Participants include Belgium’s King Philippe, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Guillaume and Swiss President Guy Parmelin.

The meeting is being held under the motto “Cohesion in Europe,” according to the presidential office. It is the first gathering of its kind in Austria since a meeting in Linz in 2019.

The programme begins with a working lunch at Restaurant 1809 on Innsbruck’s Bergisel hill late on Tuesday morning. The heads of state will then travel to the Stubai Glacier, followed by a traditional reception for the visiting dignitaries in front of Innsbruck’s Hofburg palace.

On Wednesday, the group will travel to Alpbach in the Tyrolean Unterland. A working session at the Congress Centrum conference centre is planned around the European Forum Alpbach’s annual theme, “How Europe wins.” The heads of state will also meet scholarship holders from their respective countries.

The previous meeting of the German-speaking heads of state took place almost exactly one year ago in Bad Ragaz, in Switzerland’s canton of St Gallen.