Optimistic outlook for the New Year by Reigning Prince Hans-Adam II, Hereditary Prince Alois, Prime Minister Otmar Hasler, and Deputy Prime Minister Klaus Tschütscher
Visions and strategies for the Liechtenstein financial center, the integration of foreign inhabitants in Liechtenstein society, and the disentanglement of Church and State are some of the most important topics raised by Reigning Prince Hans-Adam II and Hereditary Prince Alois, Prime Minister Otmar Hasler, and Deputy Prime Minister Klaus Tschütscher in their perspectives for the New Year. Other topics include combating unemployment, realizing equal opportunity, family policy, and changes in education policy.
When Reigning Prince Hans-Adam II thinks of the future, he thinks of reforms. In his New Year's interview with Radio Liechtenstein, the Head of State said, "We must continue to pursue reforms. We must adapt to this 21st century before us, so that we remain competitive in the future and can offer our population optimal services as a State. The reforms include the disentanglement of Church and State and realization of the principle of quality between the Roman Catholic Church – which continues to be protected by the Constitution as the national church – and the other religions." Reigning Prince Hans-Adam II speaks out in favor of complete liberalization: "We should not forget that Islam is now the second-largest religious community, after Christianity. We must accept this and must give them the opportunity to build mosques for themselves." Reigning Prince Hans-Adam II expressed skepticism concerning a further expansion of the social welfare State: By strengthening the social welfare State too much, the freedom and self-responsibility of the individual would be constrained, and the system would become too complicated, giving rise to the danger of even more injustices. The Reigning Prince envisions the future of the State as a service enterprise for its inhabitants. He has spelled out his thoughts in a book entitled "The Modern State in the Third Millennium", which will appear in 2008.
Prime Minister Otmar Hasler has declared 2008 to be the Year of the Homeland. His New Year's message is entitled "Homeland with a Future" and addresses economic policy, integration policy, and the State as an important community of solidarity: "Liechtenstein is a country showing solidarity, gaining its strength from the diversity of its people and drawing energy from the coexistence of people from different backgrounds. In the coming year, we want to make this homeland the focus of our actions." According to the Prime Minister, Liechtenstein's democratic legal order contains the idea of co-responsibility and participation of the population. Only those who are able to think along and participate in decision-making feel responsible for the common good: "Particularly the participation of minorities is a feature of a small State. In our country, people from 90 countries of origin live peacefully together, but not all of them can communicate without difficulty, since their knowledge of the national language is insufficient. The desired integration of the foreign population is heavily dependent on acquisition of the German language, which not only serves mutual understanding but also encompasses all areas of life: from the living situation to the labor market and participation in social life." The Prime Minister emphasizes not only that peaceful coexistence must continue to succeed in Liechtenstein, but also that this coexistence must be possible in an intact environment and a landscape worth living in: "Even we as a small State must make a contribution to preventing the global climate catastrophe. The world is no longer a society divided into regions and continents, but rather a global community of fate. We have our place in that community, but also our responsibility. This gives us the opportunity to be present on the international stage as a small State and at the same time to orient our State in such a way that the modern and the traditional can stand next to each other and be connected with each other. This is our homeland, which hold values and tradition in high esteem, offers a high quality of life, and promotes social cohesion."
Deputy Prime Minister Klaus Tschütscher spoke out in favor of strengthening Liechtenstein's quality as a location and its competitiveness. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Liechtenstein can count on a successfully diversified economy with high innovative capacity in industry, financial services, and trades, securing jobs, prosperity, and a functioning social net over the long run: "By further developing the business and financial location with the reform of foundation law already underway, with the progress made in drafting an attractive tax system and the establishment of the country as a research and science location, we are creating promising framework conditions and perspectives also for the coming generation." The Deputy Prime Minister emphasizes that a modern education system must offer more than mere inculcation of knowledge. To meet the demands for the future, the education system must be adapted: "Ultimately, the goal of every education must be for the student to become and remain employable."
Heredity Prince Alois also took stock of the past year in interviews with the two Liechtenstein daily newspapers, drawing positive conclusions overall. He views the path taken by the Government to disentangle State and Church as the right one: "The organs of the State should not waste their capacities with church matters, instead of focusing on their core tasks. The Church would also benefit if it could focus all its attention on its actual responsibilities such as pastoral care." With respect to the future strategy for positioning the financial center, the Hereditary Prince recommends starting from the existing strengths of the financial center, which lie in company law, private banking, and the flexibility of the small State: "These framework conditions should allow the financial center to continue offering its current business models in the long term and to build up new business models."
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