Interview with H.E. Annika Markovic, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden in Austria, on 1st December 2023 in Salzburg.

IRE: Your Excellency, you represent the Kingdom of Sweden in Austria since 2021. What are your impressions about Austrian culture, traditions and lifestyle? What is most different compared to your homeland?

I am very happy living in Austria and having this chance and opportunity to explore and learn more about this country. Vienna, where I reside, is a very liveable city with lots of things to do and plenty of culture and music which I love. I also love to travel in Austria and to understand how different the Bundesländer are. I see Austria as a more traditional and religious country than Sweden, which is ranked one of the most secular countries in the world. Austrians are embracing traditional values and culture, and this makes the way of living a bit different from Sweden. For example, fewer women work, especially full time, and the division of labour in the family is more traditional. On the other hand, the pace of living in the countryside is not as stressful as in many parts of my country.

Austria is a federal state, Sweden an unitary state with regions that execute some kind of self-government. As IRE we are aiming to strengthen the regions and municipalities within Europe. Can you briefly explain what the position of the regions and municipalities in Sweden is?

I would say that the greatest difference is the taxation right, which in Sweden is on the regional/municipal level with some adjustments between the larger richer regions and the poorer with less inhabitants. The state taxation right is many levied on the richer part of the society/those that earn the most. This makes the regions/municipalities very influential in determining the spending. Also, since Sweden is a very large country, geographically speaking, there are great differences between the less populated north and the more industrialized south. However, since the northern part has an abundance of cheap electricity from hydropower, the balance of “power” is changing and a lot of electricity intensive industries are relocating to the North.

Are there relations between Swedish and Austrian regions and/or municipalities and do you see areas of improvement for this?

The Embassy has already promoted stronger relations between the Graz/Steiermark and the Linz/Upper Austria region with regions in Sweden. We believe that on the regional level, there is scope for more collaboration, especially when it comes to the green transition. We would welcome more collaboration on this. We have worked on a violence prevention project with Västerbotten, a region in Sweden, and Steiermark in Austria. The project started with an exchange based on experiences and best-practices to prevent domestic violence in rural and remote areas. The two regions have continued their dialogue since our initial involvement, and this is a good example of how bilateral relations between similar regions can benefit both. This is just one example, there are many fields were a bilateral exchange and cooperation can benefit both countries. For a few years now, we have been working on a bilateral innovation project, mainly in the area of green mobility, energy, circularity and digitalization. Our next step is to take this away from Vienna and to focus on similar regions in Sweden and Austria, for example Linköping and Linz.

Sweden is known as country that is much involved in diplomacy and international relations. We are within a period of multiple crisis we haven’t experienced for decades. What do you think are the main challenges Europe is facing and how Sweden is approaching them?

Europe is facing many challenges at the same time. The need to counter climate change and promote a more sustainable way of living, the energy and economic crisis, the lack of competitiveness in Europe and the need to support Ukraine against the aggressor Russia in this terrible ongoing war. There are also other conflicts that need our urgent attention as well as the migration pressure on Europe. Sweden had assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union at a time of historic challenges for Member States and our four priorities were security, the green transition, competitiveness, and democratic values. Other challenges which Europe is facing are the conflict in the Middle East, EU enlargement and the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 which will be on the agenda of the upcoming European council.

Distinguished Ambassador, we thank you very much for the visit at our Institute in Salzburg!