Austrian neutrality

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Federal Law Gazette of November 4, 1955: Federal Constitutional Law of October 26, 1955 on the neutrality of Austria.

The Austrian neutrality since its decision on October 26, 1955 - the day on which for the first time no occupation forces after the war were more in the country - a fundamental element in the Austrian foreign policy . In memory of this, October 26th has been Austria's national holiday since 1965 . However, Austria's neutrality was de facto narrowed by joining the EU on January 1, 1995 and by other new constitutional provisions that have been adopted since then.

Constitutional definition

The legal provisions can be found in the Neutrality Act 1955 and in the current version of the Federal Constitution . With the formulation " perpetual neutrality " a common term of international law was used. After joining the EU, Austria largely maintained its freedom of military alliance, but it participates in the EU's common foreign and security policy .

Federal Constitutional Law of October 26, 1955 on the neutrality of Austria

article 1
(1) For the purpose of the permanent assertion of its independence externally and for the purpose of the inviolability of its territory, Austria freely declares its permanent neutrality. Austria will maintain and defend this with all means at its disposal.
(2) In order to secure these purposes, Austria will not join any military alliances in the future and will not allow the establishment of military bases of foreign states on its territory.

Art. 9 a para. 1 of the Federal Constitutional Act

Austria is committed to comprehensive national defense . Its task is to preserve the external independence as well as the inviolability and unity of the federal territory, in particular to maintain and defend the permanent neutrality. The constitutional institutions and their capacity to act as well as the democratic freedoms of the residents must be protected and defended against violent attacks from outside.

Art. 23 j Federal Constitutional Law

(1) Austria participates in the common foreign and security policy of the European Union on the basis of Title V Chapters 1 and 2 of the Treaty on European Union in the version of the Treaty of Lisbon , which is set out in Art. 3 Para. 5 and Art 21 Paragraph 1 provides in particular for the observance or respect of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations . This includes participation in tasks in accordance with Art. 43 Paragraph 1 of this contract
Article 43 (1) of the EU Treaty: The missions provided for in Article 42 (1), in the implementation of which the Union can make use of civilian and military means, include joint disarmament measures, humanitarian and rescue missions, tasks of military advice and support, tasks of Conflict prevention and peacekeeping as well as combat missions in the context of crisis management, including peace-building measures and operations to stabilize the situation after conflict. All of these missions can contribute to the fight against terrorism, including by helping third countries fight terrorism on their territory.
as well as measures to suspend, restrict or completely terminate economic and financial relations with one or more third countries. Article 50 (4) shall apply mutatis mutandis to decisions of the European Council on joint defense.
From Art. 50 para. 4 B-VG: … can only be concluded with the approval of the National Council and the consent of the Federal Council. These resolutions require the presence of at least half of the members and a majority of two thirds of the votes cast.
(2) Art. 23e para. 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to decisions within the framework of the common foreign and security policy of the European Union on the basis of Title V Chapter 2 of the Treaty on European Union in the version of the Treaty of Lisbon.
Art. 23e para. 3 B-VG: If the National Council has submitted an opinion on a project aimed at the adoption of a binding legal act that would affect the adoption of federal laws in the area regulated in the legal act, the competent Federal Ministers only deviate from this statement for compelling reasons relating to integration and foreign policy in negotiations and votes in the European Union. If the responsible Federal Minister intends to deviate from the position of the National Council, he must refer the matter to the National Council again. If the project is aimed at the enactment of a binding legal act which would either require the enactment of federal constitutional provisions or contain provisions that could only be made through such provisions, a deviation is only permissible if the National Council does not object to it within a reasonable period of time. After the vote in the European Union, the responsible Federal Minister must report to the National Council immediately and, if necessary, inform him of the reasons for which he deviated from the opinion.
(3) In the case of decisions on the initiation of a mission outside the European Union, which includes tasks of military advice and support, tasks of conflict prevention and peacekeeping or combat operations in the context of crisis management, including peacemaking measures and post-conflict stabilization operations , and in the case of resolutions pursuant to Art. 42, Paragraph 2 of the Treaty on European Union as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon regarding the gradual definition of a common defense policy, the right to vote is to be exercised by mutual agreement between the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Minister responsible for foreign affairs .
(4) Approval to measures pursuant to Paragraph 3 may only be given, if the decision to be taken would result in an obligation for Austria to deploy units or individual persons, subject to the fact that in this regard the implementation of the for the deployment of units or individual persons abroad requires the constitutionally provided procedure.

Development towards the law of neutrality

The idea that Austria should be neutral because of its location in the center of Europe was formulated by the last Imperial and Royal Prime Minister Heinrich Lammasch shortly after the end of the First World War . At that time it could barely gain a foothold, as most German-speaking Austrians sought to join democratic Germany (decision of the Provisional National Assembly of November 12, 1918).

After 1945 negotiations began between the Austrian government and the representatives of the four allied occupying powers, which for a long time did not lead to the goal because the Soviet Union did not consent to the withdrawal of its troops. Only after Stalin's death in 1953 did a certain thaw set in .

Neutrality had already been proposed earlier by the then Federal President Karl Renner , but was not enforced by the Federal Government: They wanted to be a clearly western state and have nothing to do with neutralism and non-alignment . In 1954 Moscow demanded Austria's neutrality at the Berlin Foreign Ministers' Conference. There were detailed discussions about this with all four Allies. Finally, in the spring of 1955 , Federal Chancellor Julius Raab , Vice Chancellor Adolf Schärf , Foreign Minister Leopold Figl and State Secretary Bruno Kreisky went to Moscow for negotiations.

On April 15, 1955 was Moscow Memorandum signed: Austria committed itself politically (legally was the Memorandum no contract), after deduction of the occupation forces voluntarily declare militarily neutral. In return, the Soviet Union promised to sign the State Treaty , which happened exactly a month later.

In Moscow, Austria's negotiators used the Swiss-style declaration of neutrality to make it clear that it could not be a question of neutrality or a “third way” between West and East, but that all politics, including economic policy, are geared towards this must be able to maintain neutrality in the event of war. Furthermore, they were able to prevent neutrality from becoming part of the state treaty and thus making Austria accountable for its neutrality policy.

The resolution of the Neutrality Act is therefore in a direct political (but not legal) connection with the Austrian State Treaty of May 15, 1955, which Austria approved after the Nazi rule (1938-1945), the end of the Second World War and the subsequent occupation ( 1945–1955) regained full state sovereignty.

The neutrality of Austria was announced to the international community, but not guaranteed by it; So it is not based on an international treaty, but on a unilateral declaration.

Neutrality policy

The first test of the Austrian neutrality was the Hungarian national uprising against the Soviet occupation in 1956. The just-created army had to secure the borders against armed troops the order. The order to fire in the event that foreign soldiers crossing the border could not be disarmed immediately did not have to be carried out (apart from one incident) because the Soviet Army did not violate Austria's state border. In the short term, more than 180,000 Hungarian refugees were taken in and cared for in Austria until they were later able to travel to other countries for the most part.

Despite the declaration of permanent neutrality, Austria pursued an active foreign policy since regaining its sovereignty. It joined the United Nations on December 14, 1955 .

Another test was the crackdown on the Prague Spring by Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968. As in 1956, Austria again took in a large number of refugees and took a clear stance against the actions of the Soviet Union. In this case, too, the borders of Austria were respected by the foreign armies.

Within the framework of the UN, soldiers (especially medical units and military observers) repeatedly took part in peacekeeping missions (up to 2005: 60); z. B. Missions in the former Belgian Congo (1960–1964), Cyprus and the Golan Heights in the Middle East .

In September 1961 Austria was a founding member of the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Several international organizations have their headquarters in Vienna , including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 1957 , the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since 1965 and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) since 1966 .

In 1979 the Vienna International Center (“UNO City”) was opened as the third permanent official seat of the United Nations. Here are u. a. the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Commission on European Emigration (ICEM). The Kreisky government was of the opinion that the settlement of international organizations in Vienna would be better protection for the country than an increased defense budget.

From neutrality to military non-alliance

Since 1991, the Federal Government has been able to permit the export or transit of war material if this is done to implement resolutions of the United Nations Security Council . Since 2001, this has also applied to corresponding resolutions of the European Council , the OSCE and peace operations of other international organizations based on UN principles. This option was made use of in 1991 by granting transit and overflight permits to the USA as part of the Gulf War . In March 2015, the Department of Defense said there were thousands of requests for overflights and hundreds for overland transportation every month.

For a long time, neutrality was an important obstacle for Austria to join the European Communities , since the extensive abandonment of economic independence was viewed as incompatible with neutrality. In addition, the State Treaty of 1955 forbade economic unification with Germany , which was particularly important during the Cold War . Nevertheless, on July 17, 1989, shortly before the “turning point”, Austria submitted an application to join the EC, and on January 1, 1995, it joined the European Union, which has since emerged from the EC .

The change in the understanding of neutrality, noticeable since 1989 at the latest , led to a reinterpretation of the same by the Federal Government in 1993, when the Maastricht Treaty came into force . Accordingly, the effect of neutrality is mainly limited to the points mentioned in Art. 1, Paragraph 2 of the Neutrality Act.

For the purpose of participating in the EU's common foreign and security policy, Article 23f of the Federal Constitution was created, which enables Austria to participate in humanitarian tasks and rescue missions, peacekeeping missions and combat missions in crisis management, including peacemaking measures ( Petersberg missions ).

1994 Austria is the NATO - Partnership for Peace joined.

In 1999, the US- led NATO coalition used Austrian airspace during the Kosovo war for its air strikes in Serbia , although Austria had not allowed this. There were diplomatic protests against the total of 61 aircraft, but no interceptors were used.

In addition to participating in various EU battlegroups, for example Battlegroup 107, consisting of German, Dutch, Finnish and Lithuanian associations or the German-Austrian-Czech battlegroup, the Austrian Armed Forces also regularly take part in joint international combat exercises, mainly with the German Bundeswehr . For example, from March 9th to 27th, 2015 on the high alpine military training area in Lizum / Walchen, during the bi-national army-Bundeswehr brigade combat exercise "Edelweiß 2015". Training was carried out under extreme weather conditions and in difficult terrain in order to maintain combat ability in the winter high mountains.

A recurring point of contention in Austrian politics is the delivery of weapons to other countries (see Austrian military history ).

Political discussion in the present

Numerous opinion polls show that neutrality has been fully accepted by the majority of the population over the decades and is perceived as part of Austrian identity .

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain and accession to the European Union , however, neutrality has been a topic of constant discussion. Advances in the sense of a “more solidaristic” foreign policy (such as joining NATO) came primarily from politicians of the ÖVP, namely Wolfgang Schüssel and the BZÖ , while the SPÖ and FPÖ kept a low profile or tended to (originally not at all by them preferred) neutrality concept. The Kronen-Zeitung (considered populist) and its publisher Hans Dichand also took the position of maintaining “perpetual neutrality”. An intensive discussion arose, for example, on the question of the duty of assistance in the EU constitutional treaty, which ultimately did not materialize, and on Austria's participation in the EU reaction force .

Due to the clear opinion of the population, in the opinion of commentators, the governments of the last few years have avoided officially declaring that Austria's full neutrality no longer exists today and also interprets the remaining freedom of association in terms of external or EU-political expediency, mainly for reasons of election tactics becomes. Constitutional lawyers are discussing whether the formal revocation of the Neutrality Act is to be interpreted as an overall amendment to the Federal Constitution and therefore requires a referendum by law . The law was passed without a referendum, however, and EU membership legitimized by referendum is also cited as an argument against grandfathering within the meaning of Article 44, Paragraph 3 of the B-VG .

The opinion that Austria's neutrality no longer exists in the classical sense is repeatedly put forward by experts from the National Defense Academy in Vienna. It is regularly assumed that “the EU and NATO will work together even more closely in the future”. A "strategic partnership" has existed between NATO and the EU since 2003, as a basis for common security. The agreement allows the EU to use NATO assets and capabilities to conduct a military operation.

See also

Wikisource: Law of Neutrality  - Sources and full texts

literature

  • Heinrich Kipp : Austria's perpetual neutrality and European integration . In: Juristische Blätter , Heft 4, 1960, pp. 85 ff.
  • Manfried Rauchsteiner (Ed.): Between the blocks: NATO, Warsaw Pact and Austria (= series of publications of the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library, Salzburg . Vol. 36). Böhlau, Vienna a. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-205-78469-2 .
  • Manfried Rauchsteiner, Robert Kriechbaumer (Ed.): The favor of the moment. Recent research on treaty and neutrality (= series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr.-Wilfried-Haslauer-Bibliothek, Salzburg . Vol. 24). Böhlau, Vienna a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-205-77323-3 .
  • Gerald Stourzh : About unity and freedom: State treaty, neutrality and the end of the East-West occupation of Austria 1945–1955. Böhlau, Vienna 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Law Gazette I No. 2/2008 ; entered into force as Art. 23 f January 1, 2008, amended by Federal Law Gazette I No. 57/2010, entered into force as Art. 23 j on August 1, 2010
  2. ↑ EU Treaty In: Official Journal of the European Union . C 83, March 30, 2010, p. 39.
  3. ↑ from Federal Law Gazette I No. 57/2010
  4. ^ Stefan Schocher: Panzer train: Thousands of applications per month. In: kurier.at. March 27, 2015, accessed August 13, 2015 .
  5. ^ "Profile": NATO jets in the Kosovo war dozen of over Austria , in: OTS broadcast of August 25, 2002
  6. ↑ See e.g. B. the 2007 survey by the Linz IMAS Institute, reported in Die Presse on April 24, 2007: "What Austrians are proud of: neutrality, lifestyle and good cuisine"
  7. ↑ Margaretha Kopeinig: NATO and the EU are twins . In: Daily newspaper Kurier , Vienna, April 3, 2009, p. 7; Brigadier Walter Feichtinger is quoted verbatim .