 | |
| Formation | 2010 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Purpose | Central European cooperation |
| Headquarters | Vienna |
Region served | Europe |
| Philipp Depisch | |
| Matthias Huber | |
Main organ | main board |
| Website | IPM website |
The Initiative Pro Mitteleuropa - Middleeuropean Initiative (in short "IPM") is an international think tank, based in Vienna. President of IPM is Philipp Depisch from Austria.
The foundation took place in Vienna on Nov. 20th 2010.
On January 12, 2012, IPM was a co-organizer of an international forum in Vienna, which was attended by representatives from 14 states.
From August 23 to August 25, 2013, IPM International and IPM Slovenia conducted the first "local event" of YEPP together with the "Youth of the Slovenian Democratic Party" (SDM) in Ptuj/Slovenia. There the participants from Hungary, Austria and Slovenia discussed the topic of youth employment. [1]
IPM again co-hosted a large international conference on July 2, 2014, in Vienna. 110 guests from 16 nations discussed the issue of "European energy policy". [2]
IPM completed its focus on "Energy" in 2014 with a conference in Fürstenfeld/Austria on Oct. 10th. [3] The conference was preceded by an article of Austria's second largest newspaper Kleine Zeitung, introducing IPM and its president. [4]
On April 23, 2016, IPM celebrated its five-year anniversary in Klosterneuburg together with Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of the Austrian winegrower federation. [5]
Together with DEMYC the Middleeuropean Initiative conducted an international congress on "Migration - Challenges and Opportunities" in July 2016 in Graz/Austria including almost 70 participants from 20 different countries (among others Armenia, Irak, Israel, Russia, Ukraine). During this congress both organisations adopted a joint resolution against a possible membership of Turkey in the European Union. [6]
General meeting and elections again took place on March 11, 2017, in the Austrian Parliament. During this event the "Middle-Europe-Award" was introduced. With this IPM wants to honor special people who have gained earnings to the European peace project.
A meeting with former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon was the highlight of the IPM "summit" in Alpbach/Austria on August 27, 2018. [7]
Elections again took place on May 15, 2021. In March 2022 the Middleeuropean Initiative organized a transport of medicines to Lviv, Ukraine. [8]
The IPM sees itself as a "network platform", sets up environmental priorities and supports events in the fields of politics, culture and sports. The organization is based in Vienna.
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in this region also share historical and cultural similarities.
Graz is the capital of the Austrian federal state of Styria and the second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. As of 1 January 2024, Graz had a population of 303,270. In 2023, the population of the Graz larger urban zone (LUZ) stood at 660,238. Graz is known as a college and university city, with four colleges and four universities. Combined, the city is home to more than 60,000 students. Its historic centre (Altstadt) is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.
Styria is an Austrian state in the southeast of the country, famed for its idyllic landscapes, as well as rich folk- and high culture. With an area of approximately 16,399 km2 (6,332 sq mi), Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and clockwise, from the southwest, by the other Austrian states of Carinthia, Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, and Burgenland. The state's capital is Graz, the second largest city in Austria after only Vienna.
HeinzFischer GColIH, OMRI, RSerafO, GCollSE is an Austrian politician who served as the president of Austria from 2004 to 2016. Fischer previously served as minister of science from 1983 to 1987 and as president of the National Council of Austria from 1990 to 2002. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) until 2004, he suspended his party membership as he became president.
Erhard Busek was an Austrian politician from the Christian-conservative People's Party (ÖVP). Throughout his political career, he was widely regarded as one of the leaders of the party's liberal wing. He was coordinator of the South-Eastern Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe.
The University of Klagenfurt is a federal Austrian research university and the largest research and higher education institution in the state of Carinthia. It has its campus in Klagenfurt.
Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white.
Kleine Zeitung is an Austrian newspaper based in Graz and Klagenfurt. As the largest regional newspaper in Austria, covering the federal states Styria and Carinthia with East Tyrol, the paper has around 800,000 readers.
Friedrich (Fritz) Zweigelt was an Austrian entomologist and phytologist. Zweigelt was one of the most influential and internationally renowned figures in Austrian vine growing between 1921 and 1945. He was Head of State Vine Cultivation during the period of the First Austrian Republic and also acted as Director of the School of Viticulture and Horticulture in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. The grape variety "Blauer Zweigelt" is named after him. Blauer Zweigelt is grown across an area of some 6,400 hectares in Austria, making it by far the most significant red wine grape cultivated in the country. Zweigelt's National Socialist sympathies and activities did not come to the attention of the public for some decades.
Johannes Werner Pichler is an Austrian law professor for European legal development at the University of Graz, Austria and director of the Austrian Institute of Legal Policy in Salzburg.
Bilateral relations exist and existed between Austria and Russia and their predecessor states. Since October 1955, the Republic of Austria maintains the constitutionally-mandated status of neutrality; the country is a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEEC). Austria joined the EU in 1995. Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a partner of ASEAN, a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the G20, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as well as the leading member state of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Both countries are members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Construction of the first Austrian nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf on the Danube, about 30 kilometres upstream from the capital, Vienna, began in 1972. Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant was designed as a boiling water reactor with a capacity of 700 MW(e), that was expected to generate about 10% of the Austrian electricity production.
Herbert Gantschacher is an Austrian director and producer and writer.
Johannes Hahn is an Austrian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Budget and Administration under Ursula von der Leyen since 1 December 2019.
The Austrian Football League (AFL) is the highest level of American football in Austria founded in 1982. The AFL has always been considered among the best and strongest leagues in Europe. The league plays by rules based on those of the NCAA.
Christian Ferdinand Wehrschütz, born October 9, 1961, in Graz, is an Austrian journalist. He speaks German, English, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian/Croatian, French, Slovenian, Macedonian and Albanian and is a military interpreter of Russian and Ukrainian. He is married and has two daughters.
Adil Lari is an Austrian architect specializing in sustainable architecture, ecological engineering, renewable energies and energy policy consulting. He was one of the first persons in Europe in the nineties who engaged in this field. Earning both national and international acclaim through his continuous activities, he has been invited as an expert and lecturer to numerous workshops and conferences. In 1991 he won the Austrian National Award for Domestic architecture for his construction project Solar Housing Plabutsch.
Oliver Vitouch is an Austrian psychologist and cognitive scientist. He has served as Rector of the University of Klagenfurt since 2012, and as President and Vice-President, respectively, of Universities Austria since 2016.
Hans Dobida is an Austrian former ice hockey and roller in-line hockey administrator. He was involved with ATSE Graz for almost 40 years, and served as president of the Austrian Ice Hockey Association from 1977 to 1996. He helped organize hosting duties for Austria in ice hockey at the Olympic Games, and the Ice Hockey World Championships. He was a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation council from 1986 to 2008, oversaw the IIHF Continental Cup, and was part of the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship committee. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame, the German Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, the Slovenian Hockey Hall of Fame; and received the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria.
Florian Nüßle is an Austrian snooker player from Graz. In 2017, aged 16, he became his country's youngest national snooker champion.