By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Can Austria Stay Neutral?

A few days ago, The Washington Post reported how the invasion of Ukraine had accelerated a reckoning in Austria on the risks for countries that fall under Moscow’s sway.

But it was also because of its neutrality that the  Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer was the first European leader to meet Putin and urged the Russian President to end the invasion of Ukraine and raised the issue of “serious war crimes” committed by the Russian military during talks in Moscow.

After two world wars and a bloody civil war in the 1930s, Austrians instinctively avoid conflicts. It is in their DNA. After 1945, the Allies administered the country. Many Austrians remain fiercely anti-American today, often describing the country during that period as occupied by both the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Red Army stayed on Austrian soil until 1955. Then, the Red Army withdrew, and Austria regained its independence—but on one condition imposed by the Kremlin: that the country remains strictly neutral.

                                                                                     

Geopolitical shockwaves

The global geopolitical shockwaves have become so strong that even in neutral Switzerland—which, uncharacteristically, is already participating in European Union sanctions against Russia—some politicians are calling on their government to move closer to NATO. Denmark, a NATO country that has always opted out of participating in EU defense initiatives under the Common Security and Defence Policy, immediately organized a referendum to overturn this exemption. In early June, a majority of Danes—67 percent—approved it. These countries suddenly feel vulnerable and unprotected. All seek an extra layer of security. This is one of those historical moments when governments think that two life insurances would be better than one.

Partitioned after World War II into sectors occupied by the Soviets, Americans, British and French, Austria moved into the mid-1950s as an officially “neutral” nation. That neutrality — including legal codes that made espionage a crime only if directed at Austria — turned its graceful capital into a haunt for spies. This status was accentuated by its hosting of international bodies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency. But “permanent neutrality” remained enshrined in the country’s constitution, and a deep fear of “stepping on the Russian bear’s tail” has dominated Austria’s foreign policy. 

It is telling that Austria, together with Sweden and Finland, only became a member of the EU in 1995, after the fall of the Soviet Union and after receiving a nod from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. But Austria never joined NATO. 

Austrian neutrality, like Finland’s, is a product of the Cold War. When, in April 1955, a delegation led by the chancellor, Julius Raab, flew to Moscow to negotiate an end to the Allied occupation of Austria, neutrality was the price his government had to pay. On 25 October 1955, the last Allied troops left Austrian soil; a day later, the country’s parliament enacted the Declaration of Neutrality, committing Austria to perpetual neutrality and preventing the country from joining military alliances.

Neutrality became integral to Austria’s perception of itself as an “island of bliss,” Pope Paul VI described it to the Austrian president, Franz Jonas, in 1971,  and a bridge between East and West. After the Cold War, Austria joined the EU along with Sweden and Finland in 1995. While those two countries are now Nato enhanced opportunity partners, the closest relationship short of membership,  Austria remains on the periphery of the alliance as part of the larger, looser Partnership for Peace. Austrian military operations abroad have been limited to peacekeeping missions in the Golan Heights, Lebanon, and the Balkans.

 

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