Referendum in Austria on joining the European Union

Accession negotiations to the EU 1992–94: Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway European Community




Official ballot for the referendum

On June 12, 1994, a referendum took place in Austria on the country's accession to the European Union . 66.6% of the voters supported the planned EU accession. The turnout was 82.3%.

The resolution of the membership agreement by the National Council took place on November 11th of this year, the approval of the Federal Council on November 17th. Austria joined the EU on January 1, 1995 ( EFTA expansion of the EU).

prehistory

See also : Enlargement of the European Union

After the Second World War, Austria regained its state sovereignty in the 1955 State Treaty . In Article 4 of the State Treaty, of which the four victorious powers the Soviet Union , Great Britain , France and the United States were the guaranteeing powers , Austria undertook not to enter into any kind of political or economic association with Germany (" connection ban "). In the following decades this passage was interpreted in such a way that it would make it impossible for Austria to join the European Economic Community , of which the West German Federal Republic was one of the founding members . Even if it was argued against it that the West German state only made up part of the multinational EEC, the Soviet Union in particular insisted on this point of view until the end. Nevertheless, there were a large number of agreements between the EEC and Austria and the EEC states developed into Austria's most important trade and economic partner, especially after the free trade agreement was concluded on January 1, 1973.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989–91, the possibility of joining the EU now appeared to be given. The accession was supported by most of the leading political exponents and parties in Austria, including the Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky ( SPÖ ), who has been in office since 1986 and ruled in a coalition with the ÖVP from 1987 onwards. On June 29, 1989, the National Council passed a resolution calling on the government to apply for Austria's membership of the European Communities. This application was then officially made on July 17, 1989. On February 1, 1993, the EC's accession negotiations with Austria (and also with Sweden and Finland , and a little later also Norway ) began and were concluded on April 12, 1994. On May 5, 1994, the National Council approved membership with 140 votes to 35, and on May 7, 1994, the Federal Council approved with 51 votes to 11.

On May 9, 1994, Federal President Thomas Klestil ordered a referendum to be held on June 12, 1994 on joining the EU.

The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) under Jörg Haider , the Greens and smaller groups on the left spoke out against joining the EC . The FPÖ had initially advocated joining the EEC, but then changed its assessment. The main argument of the FPÖ was the alleged bureaucratism and centralism of the Brussels EC bodies, which would lead to a loss of Austrian identity. In the election campaign, the FPÖ made use of extremely populist arguments. The governing parties SPÖ and ÖVP argue primarily with the expected economic and political advantages of the common market. In Tyrol, opponents of the EU feared a massive increase in north-south transit traffic over the Brenner Pass, with corresponding negative consequences for the environment and tourism. Farmers feared a loss of income as a result of the adjustment to the markedly lower price level for agricultural products in the EU.

The Greens and the Left distrusted the capitalist and western orientation of the EC, as well as the allegedly inadequate environmental standards. In addition, the EU isolates itself from the rest of the world with its restrictive asylum and migration policy.

Voting and results

The question put to the voters, to which the answer was yes or no, was:

"Should the legislative resolution of the National Council of May 5, 1994 on the Federal Constitutional Act on Austria's accession to the European Union gain legal force?"

The vote took place on June 12, 1994.

Result by federal state

Result by federal state

In all federal states there was a majority “yes” vote.

state	electoral legitimate	Valid votes	Yes votes	Yes votes in%	Vote no	No votes in%
Burgenland	213.090	198.279	148.041	74.7	50,238	25.3
Styria	907.991	728.037	501.481	68.9	226,556	31.1
Carinthia	420.630	340,867	232.457	68.2	108.410	31.8
Lower Austria	1,115,663	999.471	678.988	67.9	320.483	32.1
Vorarlberg	221,863	177.506	118.206	66.6	59,300	33.4
Vienna	1,133,690	820.675	542.905	66.2	277.770	33.8
Upper Austria	974.865	824,512	539.965	65.5	284,547	34.5
Salzburg	347,387	284.283	184,948	65.1	99,335	34.9
Tyrol	455.396	351.201	198,990	56.7	152.211	43.3
total	5,790,578	4,724,831	3,145,981	66.6	1,578,850	33.4

Result by constituency

Result by voting district (see table for numbering)

The following list gives the result of the voting by district.

Constituency		voting justified	Votes cast		voting participation	Yes votes		No- votes absolutely
No	Surname		all in all	invalid in%		absolutely	in %
1A	Burgenland North	104.257	102.079	1.0	97.9	74,355	73.6	26,714
1B	Burgenland South	108,833	98.292	1.1	90.3	73,686	75.8	23,524
2A	Klagenfurt	110,479	89.096	1.0	80.6	60,781	68.9	27,382
2 B	Villach	90,883	76,268	0.9	83.9	52.503	69.5	23,065
2C	Carinthia West	98,363	80,872	0.9	82.2	53,660	67.0	26,449
2D	Carinthia East	120.905	98,218	1.2	81.2	65,513	67.5	31,514
3A	Weinviertel	202.161	184,400	1.1	91.2	124,498	68.3	57.906
3B	Waldviertel	173.380	158,720	1.3	91.5	102,927	65.7	53,758
3C	Mostviertel	171,891	153.193	1.3	89.1	99,469	65.8	51,786
3D	Lower Austria center	167,514	152.454	1.2	91.0	100,590	66.8	49,974
3E	Lower Austria South	141,446	130.415	1.1	92.2	89,584	69.4	39,454
3F	Vienna Area	145.318	128.993	0.8	88.8	90.268	70.5	37,719
3G	Lower Austria south-east	113,953	102,373	0.8	89.8	71,652	70.6	29,886
4A	Linz and the surrounding area	228,888	184,932	0.8	80.8	133,911	73.0	49,564
4B	Innviertel	148.982	125,446	1.1	84.2	73,709	59.4	50,408
4C	Hausruckviertel	235.240	203.994	1.0	86.7	126,989	62.9	74,960
4D	Traunviertel	180.327	159.045	1.0	88.2	100,634	63.9	56,772
4E	Mühlviertel	181,428	159,354	1.1	87.8	104,722	66.5	52,843
5A	Salzburg city	101,866	77,631	0.7	76.2	50,147	65.0	26,965
5B	Flachgau / Tennengau	121,975	104,809	0.8	85.9	65,750	63.2	38,215
5C	Lungau / Pinzgau / Pongau	123,546	103.923	0.7	84.1	69.051	66.9	34,155
6A	Graz	181,268	137.287	0.9	75.7	96.003	70.5	40.084
6B	Central Styria	135,078	108,540	1.0	80.4	72,557	67.5	34,935
6C	Styria South	101.030	80.001	1.1	79.2	52.501	66.3	26,652
6D	Styria south-east	85,818	70,437	1.2	82.1	43,648	62.7	25,953
6E	Styria East	112,345	96.151	1.0	85.6	62,828	66.0	32,348
6F	Styria North	87,741	73.494	1.0	83.8	54,851	75.4	17,909
6G	Styria north-west	119.161	99,628	0.9	83.6	69,672	70.6	29,065
6H	Styria West	85,550	69,618	0.8	81.4	49,421	71.6	19,610
7A	innsbruck	82,911	64.019	0.6	77.2	37.008	58.2	26,602
7B	Innsbruck country	150.724	117.173	0.5	77.7	63.502	54.5	53,063
7C	Unterland	101,952	80,844	0.6	79.3	44,994	56.0	35,383
7D	Oberland	83,038	63.183	0.5	76.1	35,225	56.0	27,646
7E	East Tyrol	36,771	27,945	0.6	76.0	18,261	65.7	9,517
8A	Vorarlberg North	123,768	99.266	0.6	80.2	67.117	68.0	31,588
8B	Vorarlberg south	98,095	79.216	0.5	80.8	51,089	64.8	27,712
9A	Vienna inner-south	115,492	81,277	0.8	70.4	53,043	65.8	27,600
9B	Vienna Inner West	114,356	80,577	0.7	70.5	55.506	69.3	24,534
9C	Vienna Inner East	109.992	77,683	0.8	70.6	48,633	63.1	28,445
9D	Vienna south	221.061	158.088	0.7	71.5	100.086	63.7	56,959
9E	Vienna south-west	212.052	159,859	1.1	75.4	107.008	67.7	51.127
9F	Vienna north-west	180.404	132,388	0.7	73.4	88,735	67.5	42,663
9G	Vienna north	180,336	137.220	0.6	76.1	89,894	65.9	46,442

Assessment and further development

The question of the referendum was approved by a clear majority in all electoral districts and federal states. The highest pro-EU share of the vote was found in Burgenland with 74.7%, the lowest with 56.7% in Tyrol. The turnout was high at an average of 82.3% and were 2.0 and 2.9 percentage points higher than in the 1992 federal presidential election and the 1990 national council election - an indication that the electorate attached great importance to the question. Turnout was highest in Burgenland (94%) and lowest in Vienna (73%). 64,390 Austrian citizens abroad (1.1% of those entitled to vote) also cast their votes.

The Austrian referendum was the first of a total of four referendums (three more followed in Sweden, Finland and Norway) and in none of the other candidate countries was the “yes” vote to accession so clear. On June 24, 1994, Chancellor Vranitzky, Foreign Minister Mock and other Austrian plenipotentiaries signed the accession treaty at the conference in Corfu.

On July 22, 1994, opponents of the accession filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court because the government had campaigned for a positive vote in an inadmissible manner and because the period between the ordering of the referendum by the Federal President and the day of the vote was too short. The complaint was dismissed as unfounded on August 30, 1994 by the Constitutional Court.

On January 1st, 1995 Austria officially joined the European Union.

literature

• Margaretha Kopeinig : The thirteenth star. How Austria got into the EU . Czernin, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-7076-0497-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 20 years ago: Conclusion of the EU Accession Treaty and Austria's accession to the EU. Materials, Austrian Parliament (parlament.gv.at).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Austria joins the EU. Democracy Center Vienna, accessed on January 17, 2015 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chronology of the relations Austria-EEC / EU. Parliament of the Republic of Austria, accessed on January 1, 2015 . 
4. ^ U-referendum - Klestil signed the referendum resolution. Image archive Austria, accessed on January 17, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Meret Baumann: Austria's accession to the EU twenty years ago: “There was no plan B”. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 10, 2014, accessed on January 17, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Klaus-Peter Schmid: Fear of thick air. Zeit online, March 25, 1994, accessed January 1, 2017 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b c d} EU referendum: referendum on Austria's accession to the European Union on June 12, 1994 (PDF), publisher: Federal Ministry of the Interior, with detailed results by municipalities