Austria will not terminate its membership with CERN

The news that Austria will remain a CERN member state is a most important event for Austrian science. The recent discussions have created large interest in the population and demonstrate that fundamental science is of general interest. We consider the decision of our government as a mandate to us scientists to use CERN in the most efficient ways possible. We will increase our efforts to communicate to the public the value and the return of our membership touching all areas of our activities. This concerns not just particle physics but also other aspects of our CERN-involvement, such as education, economical return, technology transfer and outreach. We will develop ideas with the aim to further strengthen the collaboration with CERN in these areas in the interest of Austrian research.
We hope that the decision to continue the membership will not affect adversely the participation of other Austrian research groups involved in other national or international research efforts.

The media - national and international - have constructively contributed to the debate with their in-depth and balanced coverage. Thank you.

We are most grateful for the enormous number of letters of support and the positive comments from the general public

The worldwide declarations of solidarity by our scientific colleagues, not just in particle physics, but in many other scientific areas, have provided important contributions to the debate. Thank you so much.

signed,

Christian W. Fabjan          Manfred Krammer