Austria, the last bastion of European neutrality, While most countries of the world remain neutral towards the conflict in Ukraine, Europe has said goodbye to it, writes Advance.
Only one country is still holding out. For how long?
Antun Rocha After almost six months of fighting in Ukraine, one thing becomes clear: in this conflict, one of the parties was chosen not only by its direct participants, but also by the countries of the entire Western world, that is, the European Union together with the United States and Canada in North America.
And what about the rest of the world? Almost all of it remains neutral. Yes, some countries may be more sympathetic to Russia, and others to Ukraine, but their political position is still far from the support that some countries of the European Union and the United States provide to Ukraine.
At the very beginning of the fighting, the EU and the US tried to present this conflict as a struggle between Russia and Ukraine, the world against Russia, but it did not work out. The rest of the world does not want to support such a division, because it goes against their own interests. And now they are not interested in standing up for one of the parties, but in leaving all the doors open, no matter who comes out the winner in the end.
Such a position is understandable, but something surprising remains. What? Yes, the fact that, as expected, the influence of the leading world power, the United States, will be greater. As a result, it turned out that Washington can still somehow influence Europe, but its influence is limited to it.
Nevertheless, while the rest of the world remains neutral and, it seems, is not going to turn away from this path, in Europe, not only the concept of neutrality in general, but also any political aspects that can be perceived as neutral, are viewed as something completely unacceptable, almost treasonable.
Indeed, the situation has changed a lot since February 24. Two Scandinavian countries that were a symbol of military neutrality, Sweden and Finland, together abandoned a long tradition and asked to join NATO. Their request can be considered practically satisfied (each member country of the alliance must ratify their request, but after the issue of the Turkish veto has been resolved, there should be no other obstacles).
Even Switzerland, which is not a member of either the EU or NATO, abandoned its own neutrality at the moment when it supported economic sanctions against Russia. Yes, we can say that Switzerland has preserved itself at the same time. It is very well known what the Swiss power is based on, and in such a tense geopolitical situation, Switzerland, if it had not resorted to sanctions, would probably have been under attack by those who use its financial services.
However, after leaving the zone of neutrality, it loses its status as one of the main places where "wars end". And Geneva often became such a place. Switzerland is no longer welcome as a mediator, as confirmed by Moscow itself, which recently rejected its offer of diplomatic representation of Ukrainian citizens in Russia.
Then who else is left in old Europe, if at all? In fact, there is another country, and even on the territory of the European Union. Beyond its borders, in the Balkans, there are politically relatively neutral countries, such as Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, their overall influence is small, and since they have been trying to become members of the European Union for a long time, their neutrality is actually an attempt to balance at this particular moment.
So which country of the European Union still remains neutral? Well, the very title of the article has already revealed the secret. Yes, there is much more to be said about Austrian neutrality in the current conflict, except that it exists.
Why do I speak of Austria as a "bastion of neutrality"? Weren't they Sweden and Finland before? Not really. Sweden and Finland were neutral, but already at the very beginning of the conflict, their public changed their position, and the attitude towards joining NATO changed dramatically. Last year, most Swedes and Finns opposed joining this military alliance led by the United States, but today they no longer think so. What has changed public opinion? Fear of Russia, what else. Relations between Sweden and Russia are already moving downward, and Finland, although it maintained warmer relations with Moscow than Stockholm, still remembers the war with the USSR.
Nevertheless, in Europe, where even Switzerland has considered whether it should join NATO, Austria is an exception, and judging by its current position, it will retain its status.
Of course, Austria is not a geopolitical island. It is part of the European Union, various defense organizations of the European Union, which are inevitably linked to NATO. Nevertheless, Austria does not intend to join the alliance.
Is the possibility of NATO membership being discussed in Austria? No. According to recent polls, up to 80% of Austrians believe that Austria should not be part of NATO. It is a curious fact that this opinion is shared by representatives of the entire Austrian political spectrum.
As for the Austrian conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer, even at the beginning of the fighting, he said that "Austrian neutrality" would not be the subject of discussion. Pamela Randy-Wagner, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Austria from the left center, also said that "Austrian neutrality is not discussed."
Further. The right-wing Austrian Freedom Party also takes a clear position, supporting Austrian neutrality. Moreover, even the Austrian "Greens" hold the same opinion and, unlike their German counterparts, advocate pacifism, thanks to which the green policy initially attracted so many supporters in the 80s. The German Greens, after a series of internal party perturbations, have turned into perhaps the most militant party in Germany.
We can see what changes the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland and, of course, Germany have undergone, which, for example, strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq at the beginning of the century. But then how did Austria maintain its neutrality? Security analyst and political scientist Wolfgang Putztai said in an interview with Al Jazeera about this: "After the terrible experience of two world wars, as well as Nazi terror, neutrality is deeply ingrained in the minds of Austrians."
Of course, the politics of the Cold War and certain decisions contributed to the fact that Austria has become what it is now. I will only briefly remind you that after the Second World War, the victorious countries, to be more precise: the United States, Great Britain, France and the USSR, divided Austria into four occupation zones. This continued until 1955, when a treaty was signed ending the occupation, but in exchange Austria undertook to remain neutral. So it turned into a "buffer zone" between East and West.
In the end, this position of Austria benefited, as well as provided her with security. Moreover, thanks to this, even Austria's defense spending remained very low.
After the 1955 treaty, Austria could integrate into the Western economic architecture, but at the same time enjoyed the benefits of trade with the Soviet Union.
Geneva was mentioned above. Its diplomatic influence, of course, will decrease due to Swiss decisions, but Vienna remains. In the second half of the twentieth century, Vienna became one of the most important diplomatic centers in the world. In addition, many of the most important international organizations, starting with the IAEA and ending with OPEC, are based in Vienna.
However, this does not mean that Austria itself is a powerful intermediary power. This became clear in April, when Austrian Chancellor Nehammer became the first Western leader to meet with Putin after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. There was nothing left in his memory from his visit to Moscow, and he did not affect the course of the fighting in any way. In fact, we can say that Turkish President Erdogan enjoys great influence in this sense (and Turkey is a member of NATO).
Austria, unlike, for example, Finland, has no one to fear in its immediate neighborhood. It borders with the members of the European Union: Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy, as well as with two non-EU countries: Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Nevertheless, this geographical location is unlikely to be able to protect it from the consequences of the rupture of energy ties between Europe as a whole and Russia. Therefore, Austria is now preparing to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.
There will be those (perhaps there will be even more of them inside than abroad) who will criticize Austria for its neutrality, demand that it "decide". But this does not correspond to the interests of the Austrian people, just as it does not correspond to the interests of many other European nations, who made this decision out of inertia, without thinking about their own well-being.
