Austria should use neutrality | DiePresse.com
Replica of G. Fehlinger. Why Austria must strengthen a sovereign Europe and should continue to play the role of mediator.
Fear reigns in Europe, there is a risk of livelihoods being wiped out, misery and flight – there is a risk of war. Russian forces could attack Ukraine if the US does not meet the Kremlin’s demands for future NATO expansions and a withdrawal of troops from those states that have announced the alliance. The EU is committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and strongly condemns the Russian actions. Since a war would have massive security policy and economic effects on Austria, an armed conflict must be prevented. Gunther Fehlinger’s argument in the “Presse” (guest commentary, January 21, 2021), according to which Austria’s accession to NATO would better protect our population and would contradict the prevention of war, contradicts all logic and empirical facts. On the contrary: the added value of neutrality in terms of security policy and the experience gained with it should be used.
Austria became a free and sovereign country because the politicians of the Ukrainian coalition, who had experienced World War II, consciously opted for neutrality. This was the consequence of active participation in the Nazi regime’s wars of annihilation and shared responsibility for the Shoah. The alternative would be a traumatic division of people and their families along the lines of occupation, opposed in hostile military alliances. Instead, the neutral Austrian center of international organizations and successfully contributed to relaxation and de-escalation in Europe. To this day, Austria benefits from being the seat of the UN and OSCE. This is why neutrality is important to 80 percent of Austrians and their marginalization is unpatriotic.