Austrian Official Signals Openness To Joining NATO, Cites ‘Aggressive’ Russian Policies

Austria’s minister of foreign affairs signalled openness to joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in an interview Sunday afternoon.

Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in an interview with German media outlet Welt that she was ready to engage in a “national debate” about the country possibly acceding to NATO. She cited Europe’s ongoing security problems following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine as justification.

“The Austrian authorities are open to discussing NATO membership and abandoning the country’s neutral status, enshrined in the constitution, due to Russia’s aggressive policies,” Meinl-Reisinger said.

Austria has been neutral in international politics since the end of World War II. The country was divided into occupation zones like Germany was, and the Soviet Union only agreed to allow the country to reunite on the condition it would remain neutral during the Cold War. Austria, situated on the Iron Curtain, was a hotbed of both espionage and diplomacy for both U.S.-aligned and Soviet-aligned agents. 

Austria has worked with NATO in the past through Partnership for Peace (PfP), a NATO-run program where individual countries can cooperate with the alliance on training, disaster planning and response, and relations with civilian governments. Several current NATO states were former PfP members, though some PfP members never joined NATO or expressed any intent on doing so, such as Russia and Serbia.

“I am very open to having a public debate about the future of Austria’s security and defense policy,” Meinl-Reisinger said.

“Although there are currently no majorities in parliament and in the population for joining NATO, such a debate can still be very fruitful,” she continued.

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia has forced Austria to reevaluate its historically neutral position. A landlocked country that is surrounded on all sides by NATO members has relatively little to fear from invasion, but Meinl-Reisinger believes the country could have something to gain from NATO membership.

“One thing is clear: neutrality alone does not protect us,” said Meinl-Reisinger.

Austria would be the third member in a wave of once-neutral European countries joining the alliance since the invasion, with Finland acceding in 2023 and Sweden in 2024. Both countries were formerly members of PfP..

Finnish President Alexander Stubb explained to Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald why his country joined the alliance, saying that “being outside of NATO would be like being naked, outdoors, in minus 20 degrees.”

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said during a 2024 speech at Brussels that “Sweden will be a safer country in NATO, and NATO will be a stronger alliance with Sweden in it.”

Kristersson’s accession speech also made mention of a quip from former U.S. President Joe Biden that Russian President Vladimir Putin “wanted a Finlandization of Ukraine, but he got a Natofication of Finland.”

“Finlandization” is a term meaning to force a weaker country to cede some of its sovereignty to a stronger neighbor, as the Soviet Union forced Finland to be a neutral nation in the opening days of the Cold War. Finland acted as a center for diplomacy during the period, much as Austria did. 

Austria may similarly follow Finland in its course from being a neutral nation to a country firmly aligned and integrated with NATO.