Austria

Abstract

Austria joined the EU on 1 January 1995. However, its history of European integration began long before then. After the end of World War II and ten years of occupation, the Foreign Ministers of the occupation powers signed a treaty on 15 May 1955 reinstating Austrian sovereignty. The country’s first sovereign decision proclaimed a commitment to ‘eternal neutrality’, had been a requirement for the retrieval of sovereignty. Due to its status as a pivotal part of the Austrian constitution, the decision had a significant impact on the country’s future foreign policy. Thus, the subsequent governments were confronted with the task of maintaining the delicate balance between sovereignty, neutrality and integration. Austria joined the Council of Europe and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in 1956 and the European Free Trade Association in 1960, and signed several free trade agreements with the European Community in 1972. Up to the end of the Cold War, Austrian foreign policy gradually shifted focus towards the European Community. The fall of the Berlin Wall ended Austria’s role as a link between East and West, and stimulated political endeavours to join the European Union (EU).