Category: Austria

A collective sigh of relief from Austria – Putting the Bundespräsidentenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung to bed

Austria’s Presidential Election is finally over, Renzi loses in Italy and the Supreme Court Hearing takes place…

In a year where the only certainty has been uncertainty – particularly as far as election results have been concerned, the acceptance of the result in the postponed re-run of the run-off for the President Election was a relief – marking at least in Austria the end of the political year dominated by the “Bundespräsidentenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung“. Back in May, with Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer too close to separate from physical votes cast, we had had a nervous weight for a result – Austria’s news providers’ webservers crashing seemed to collude to make the announced results at 4pm on the Monday  back in May after a Sunday vote even more tense. Continue reading “A collective sigh of relief from Austria – Putting the Bundespräsidentenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung to bed”

A question of citizenship

The bond of citizenship this year has been a waivering one for me…

A post in the “The 48%”, a Facebook group of Remain supporters, popped up from another Briton in Austria earlier in the autumn, who had just arrived at the decision to choose to naturalise as an Austrian citizen, in so doing of course having to renounce his UK citizenship. Since contact with him, I have also made contact to other UK citizens in Austria within the group, and weighed up our collective plights. Continue reading “A question of citizenship”

Who feels our pain?

The first posts have started appearing on the Vienna Expats site that I run from concerned Expats. To date there has only been one very brief statement from the Ambassador (although given the chaos and confusion it would be unrealistic to expect a more substantial one). This time last week I was waking up on my 39th birthday with the UK being turned upside down. Fortunately work has been crazily busy due to the work associated with getting a new website live – yes it happened to deadline! Continue reading “Who feels our pain?”

My initial reaction to the results of the Referendum

My brief statement prepared yesterday immediately upon hearing the results.

I went to bed early on Thursday to make sure that I could watch the coverage of the results towards the ‘business end’ of the count. At 4am I woke up, and upon looking at my phone, headed to the sitting room to watch the coverage on BBC News. Slowly but surely with a Lagavullin in my hand the ‘remain’ camp were not making any inroads into the ‘leave’ advantage.
Continue reading “My initial reaction to the results of the Referendum”

A week of travel – Austria, Britain and Croatia

This week sees the last full week before the Referendum vote on 23 June. There will be many campaigners on both sides putting in some serious miles as the referendum still remains very much in the balance. I’ll also be putting in some miles – to London on Wednesday and back to Vienna on Thursday before a day trip to Zagreb for Friday – all part of the job working within the European banking supervision environment – going to the European Banking Authority in Canary Wharf and then the Croatian National Bank, the latter hosting a meeting of an SSM working group.
Continue reading “A week of travel – Austria, Britain and Croatia”

A pro-Brexit Briton in Western Austria speaks out

In the short or long term a Brexit will have no effect on where I live. I think a lot of the UK will see a “Yes” vote as a missed opportunity.

One of the comments made by the first pro-Brexit Briton in Austria to answer a set of questions was that there is a big difference between the situation in Vienna compared with Austria as a whole – particularly with regard to the level of integration that a foreigner needs. I was very pleased that my blog had reached a Briton in Western Austria, who was very keen to talk about her experiences – in particular to highlight how different life can be outside the largest city or capital.

Continue reading “A pro-Brexit Briton in Western Austria speaks out”

What can we learn from the Austrian Presidential election

A wafer-thin margin in favour of Bremain will not mean the end of the issue – and than after another General Election, there is likely to be another referendum held on the issue of the UK’s EU membership.

One of the very valid concerns that I registered from the previous post hearing the views of a pro-Brexit Briton in Vienna was the concern that a close result will not put the issue of Britain’s EU membership beyond incontrovertible doubt. The poster made the very valid point that a wafer-thin margin in favour of Bremain will not mean the end of the issue – and than after another General Election, there is likely to be another referendum held on the issue of the UK’s EU membership. Continue reading “What can we learn from the Austrian Presidential election”

Feelings of a pro-Brexit Briton in Vienna

A Brexit will result in the unravelling of the EU as we know it today and result in, at the very least, a tremendous amount of reform. A Bremain could see the UK as a very dysfunctional EU member depending on the margin of victory.

In my last post I set a list of questions that I wanted to ask pro-Brexit Britons in Austria. Below are the first responses – from a long-term Briton in Vienna (who would appear to have been living in Austria for a similar period as I have). Continue reading “Feelings of a pro-Brexit Briton in Vienna”

FM4 Radio Interview

On Friday I did a brief interview with FM4, the state-owned alternative music station that also has some programming in English.

FM4 Sign at the Funkhaus
FM4 Sign at the Funkhaus

On Friday I did a brief interview with FM4, the state-owned alternative music station that also has some programming in English.

Chris Cummins, who presents the Reality Check show, is another long-term Briton in Europe and he asked me some questions about how a Brexit might affect me as a Briton in Europe. He’ll be sent to cover the Referendum from London for the station in June.

The interview can be listened to online on FM4’s Website until 20 May at: fm4.orf.at/player/20160513/RC/134008