Ursula Plassnik related content 

Former foreign minister fails in OSCE bid. Another Austrian politician, Ursula Plassnik, foreign minister in 2004-08, has failed in her bid to become secretary-general of...

Former foreign minister faces a tough race for OSCE job. Ursula Plassnik, a former foreign minister of Austria, has run into difficulty in her bid to become...

A man who has pulled his party back from the abyss and climbed to the peak of politics. Werner Faymann always wears a smile. Not a generous smile that oozes warmth, rather...

EU foreign ministers are in “listening mode” after Ireland's rejection of the reform treaty, and are set to discuss Iran.

After 50 years, the EU family photo is still shockingly lacking in women. It was interesting to read Ilana Bet-El's views on the Commission Vice-President Margot...

European Parliament describes efforts to reform lawbook as “merely a first step”.  

Less than a year ago, Alfred Gusenbauer, as the leader of Austria's Socialist Party (SPÖ), had a secure place among the also-rans of European politics. Clumsy, unlucky, how...

Maria Berger, the leader of the Austrian Socialist MEPs in the European Parliament, is leaving the assembly to become justice minister in the Austrian government that was...

Negotiations over a new government in Austria have prompted all sorts of speculation about where ex-ministers might end up. The centre-right Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) of...

Ursula Plassnik, the foreign minister of Austria, the current holder of the EU presidency, did away with the usual diplomacy when addressing the European Parliament last...

Things in Brussels are rarely as they seem. One year after the French and Dutch referenda killed the EU constitution, commentators seem to agree that the Union remains in a...

EU officials and their counterparts in Washington were this week attempting to patch up preparations for the EU-US summit on 21 June after they were thrown into disarray by...

EU governments took the first tentative steps this weekend to end their self-enforced period of indecision and inaction introduced after the rejection of the Union's proposed...

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik believes that aiming to agree new institutional reforms for the EU in 2009 would be a good idea even though the proposal is facing...

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso will go to the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers outside Vienna this weekend seeking backing for his vision of...

Ah, the sweet innocence of youth! Those young idealists of the College of Europe have been misbehaving again. It is traditional for the students to organise national events,...

10 February: EU ambassadors meet, Brussels. On the agenda: air services between EU and Western Balkans, EU 'partnership for jobs and growth', lifelong learning; 13-16...

The Austrian government has borrowed many musical metaphors to describe its six-months leading the EU. But it hit a few wrong notes during its first eight days in office....

Translating rhetoric into reality will be the key challenge for Austria if EU commitments to ease hardship in poor countries are to be honoured. In May 2005, the 15 'old'...

The task that the Austrian government has inherited for its six-month presidency of the EU has been eased by the 15-16 December summit which reached agreement on the EU's...