Defence minister Tanner says Vienna can be a credible defence partner without abandoning its constitutional commitment to military neutrality
Austria has spent years making the case that its military neutrality and obligations as a European security partner didn’t cancel one another out. That balancing act has become increasingly fraught, however, amid the war in Ukraine and the erosion of the Atlantic alliance.
“In a conflict, we would also be a target,” Chancellor Christian Stocker acknowledged in a newspaper interview over the weekend, noting that neither neutrality nor reliance on NATO neighbours could shield Austria from the growing threat posed by drones.
On a practical level, the consequences of that realisation are that Vienna, which has only spent about 1% of GDP on defence in recent years, is pledging to redouble its security obligations at the European level.
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