The Franco-Austrian Center for European Reconciliation (CFA/FZ) is a Franco-Austrian intergovernmental organization, initiated in 1976 by Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, in order to develop economic relations between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, and contribute to creating a Europe of peace.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the CFA refocused its actions on the enlargement issues of the European Union (EU) and included Hungary and Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Slovenia, the Baltic States, as well as Romania and Bulgaria in its field of activity. The CFA’s role as a space for reflection and exchange is strengthened by the need to support the new Union member countries in their integration process. Since 2004, the CFA has also turned towards the Union’s new neighbors, particularly the western Balkan countries, who are considering their future in a European perspective.
The CFA aims to integrate all of its exchanges into a broader perspective regarding the future of our continent. Today, it focuses its activities around three directions: the Franco-Austrian bilateral dialogue, the future of the EU, and the future reshaping of the continent.
Reports of all events organized by the CFA are available on its website (http://oefz.at). The CFA’s budget is supported by the French and Austrian Ministries of Foreign Affairs. Depending on the topics addressed, the CFA reaches out to European public and private institutions to contribute to the financing of its meetings.
The orientations of the CFA benefit from the recommendations of an Advisory Board, approved by a Board of Directors, which elects a president and a secretary general among its members.
