Innsbruck (OTS) – The Russian invasion of Ukraine exactly one year ago also put Austrian neutrality to the test. Referring only to the past does not meet the requirements of security policy.
The government would know. “We agree that nothing has been the same since February 24 last year,” said Europe Minister Karoline Edtstadler, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner is pushing under the umbrella of the European Sky Shield air defense system – and is proud of General Robert Brieger, who is the first Austrian to head the EU military committee. Being neutral doesn’t mean not having an attitude, says Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
You would know it – and yet the federal government does not want to enter into a debate regarding security policy. Its members prefer to bend over backwards in European discussions with their counterparts. They have to explain to them how they want to reconcile all this. Neutral in Vienna, solidary in Brussels. Apart from direct deliveries of arms and ammunition, there is not much that distinguishes Austria from other EU countries – except perhaps its dependence on Russian gas.
In Austria, neutrality is closely linked to a sense of security that has lost its basis: it was closely linked to the Cold War, on the front line of which Austria established itself.
In the decades since it was decided in 1955, neutrality has become part of Austria’s identity, as Edtstadler puts it. In the polls, the approval is actually large. The fear of losing even more people to the FPÖ is just as great. The Blues play the piano of moods and let nothing get past neutrality. Of course, they make it easy for themselves: they propagate what voices promise. Herbert Kickl and Co. do not plan a fact check.
But courting votes is not a sufficient reason to refuse the debate. Nothing is as it was. That must also mean discussing the meaning and nature of neutrality. Referring to history is not enough.
Maybe in the end it will turn out that everything fits the way it is. Or it turns out that neutrality has had its day.
But maybe it will also come out that neutrality needs new content. That efforts are needed to reposition Austria as a place for negotiations in the world. Maybe then there will be a line as to what is allowed and what is not. Perhaps neutrality will be re-declared. Perhaps then one understands the military capability and the federal army as a central part of it.
Perhaps. But as long as we don’t conduct the security policy debate without blinkers, we’ll never find out.
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