The members of our Austrian member party NEOS met on Saturday 23 June to elect a new leadership.

Beate Meinl-Reisinger is the party's newly elected chair, succeeding Matthias Strolz.

From 2013 to 2015, Meinl-Reisinger was a Member of the Austrian National Council. Since 2015, she has been a member of the Vienna Landtag and a member of the Vienna City Council. Up until her election as party leader, she was also NEOS' Vice President

Habemus @neos_eu Vorsitzende! Herzlichen Glückwunsch @BMeinl #mutignachvorne pic.twitter.com/sYB15lHzhj

— Stefan Gara 🇪🇺 (@docgara) June 23, 2018

In her first speech as party leader, Meinl-Reisinger praised the values of the European Union: "The commitment to a common Europe is our value. This Europe is endangered by the far-right, but also by the conservatives. Human rights seem to be negotiable again. I want to shout: Are you all mad?"

"I can remember the Iron Curtain, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the enthusiasm when Austria joined the EU. Europe is an area of peace, freedom and opportunities."

"I want a Europe of solidarity in which we do not leave the burden of the crisis to individual countries. I am convinced that we need clear rules, with a view to humanism, the rule of law and the limits of our absorption capacity."

"Ich kann mich an den Eisernen Vorhang erinnern, an den Fall der Berliner Mauer und die Begeisterung, als Österreich der EU beigetreten ist. Europa ist ein Raum des Friedens, der Freiheit und der Chancen." @BMeinl #mutignachvorne pic.twitter.com/DLf2UU7w7A

— Das Neue Österreich (@neos_eu) June 23, 2018