Moscow Memorandum

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The Moscow Memorandum of April 15, 1955 was the political (non-legal) agreement between the Soviet and Austrian governments that made it possible to conclude the State Treaty exactly one month later. In Moscow, Austria promised to declare its permanent neutrality after the conclusion of the State Treaty .

The negotiators for the Soviet Union were Foreign Minister WM Molotov and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers AI Mikojan , for Austria Federal Chancellor Julius Raab , Vice Chancellor Adolf Schärf , Foreign Minister Leopold Figl and State Secretary Bruno Kreisky .

content

The main points of the memorandum:

  • Austria's commitment to permanent neutrality based on the Swiss model
  • Efforts to guarantee the integrity of the Austrian territory by the four victorious powers
  • Commitment by the Soviet Union to recognize neutrality, to guarantee the integrity and inviolability of Austrian territory and to withdraw troops from Austria

prehistory

Austria was allowed to participate as an equal partner at the Berlin Foreign Ministers' Conference from January 25 to February 28, 1954 . The Soviets wanted to agree to a treaty with a neutral Austria, but only under the condition that Soviet troops remain in the country until the future of Germany as a whole was clarified. However, the Western Powers and Austria did not agree and went home without any results.

Only after the Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO in 1954 did a solution appear. In February 1955, a breakthrough was achieved in negotiations with the Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov , so that the State Treaty came within reach.

Moscow, 12. – 15. April 1955

As soon as the Austrian delegation arrived in Moscow, the greeting indicated with full military honors that a positive end to the negotiations could be expected. The main focus of these was on how Austria would define and legally establish its neutrality . The concept of perpetual neutrality , which was favorable to the Soviet Union, was not undisputed in the Austrian delegation. Bruno Kreisky in particular would have preferred the term military non-alliance .

The Soviet Union demanded that neutrality be anchored directly in the State Treaty, which would later have enabled Austria's four contractual partners (often referred to as signatory states ) to exert influence on Austrian foreign policy. The negotiators of the ÖVP , Raab and Figl, wanted to agree, the SPÖ negotiators Schärf and Kreisky were strictly against it.

If the Soviet negotiating delegation initially demanded neutrality and then a state treaty , the Austrian negotiators convinced them that a legally binding neutrality could only be decided after Austria's independence or sovereignty. Ultimately, the Soviet Union agreed to the promise that Austria would voluntarily declare its neutrality and constitutionally secure it after the conclusion of the State Treaty .

On April 15, after signing the memorandum in Moscow, the Austrian delegation landed at the Bad Vöslau airfield near Vienna. On arrival, Chancellor Julius Raab happily declared: Austria will be free.

Vienna, April 14, 1955

Hugo Portisch found out from the Viennese daily Kurier on April 14, 1955 that an agreement could be reached with the Soviet Union. He and his editor-in-chief Hans Dichand spontaneously published a special edition with the lead story Austria becomes free on the same evening and sold it themselves as colporteurs in the center of Vienna.

consequences

On May 15, 1955, the State Treaty between Austria and the four occupying powers was ceremoniously signed . On July 27, 1955, the treaty entered into force after ratification by all five states. On October 26, 1955 - the foreign troops had completely withdrawn - the National Council passed the Neutrality Act .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugo Portisch: It was always exciting , Ecowin Verlag, Wals bei Salzburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-7110-0072-9 , p. 117 f.