For Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Austria’s NATO accession is not an issue. Although there is a new quality of cooperation between neutral or non-aligned states like Austria and the Western Defense Alliance, membership does not represent a “variant way of thinking”. Nehammer said this today on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid. Austria is and will remain neutral, but also a reliable partner in questions of security policy.
The Federal Chancellor recalled that Austria is already active with around 400 soldiers in EU peacekeeping missions, 300 in such NATO operations and 200 in UN missions. Austria can also show solidarity as a neutral country and act as a mediator, for example.
Meetings with Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were also on the agenda for Nehammer. Nehammer wanted to coordinate with Klitschko what help the Ukrainian capital might currently need from Austria. Above all, the delivery of further fire-fighting and rescue vehicles should be addressed. Nehammer saw the meeting with Erdogan as the “beginning of a more relaxed relationship” with Turkey’s autocratic president.
