On 16 March 1967, the Austrian Chancellor, Josef Klaus, delivers an address at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in which he defends Austria’s foreign policy, emphasising the fact that it is in line with the country’s neutral status.
Austria and the security structures of the European Union
On 15 May 1995, on the margins of the meeting of the Western European Union (WEU) Council of Ministers in Lisbon, the Foreign and Defence Ministers of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain decide to establish two multinational forces, a ground force (Eurofor) and a maritime force (Euromarfor), which are answerable to WEU but may also be employed in the work of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in order to strengthen the European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance.
On 23 April 1996, on the flight deck of the Spanish aircraft carrier ‘Principe de Asturias' in Palma de Mallorca, the inauguration ceremony of the multinational naval force Euromarfor, which consists of French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese naval forces, takes place.
In January 1996, in the Revue du Marché commun et de l’Union européenne, Alfred Cahen, Belgian Ambassador in Paris and former Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU), outlines the background of WEU and clarifies its role in the implementation of the European Union common defence.
On 13 May 1997, in Paris, the Council of Ministers of Western European Union (WEU) reaffirms the essential role of WEU in the European security architecture and gives the Permanent Council the task of strengthening institutional and operational cooperation with the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance.
On 22 May 1992, at the 59th Franco-German Summit held in La Rochelle, François Mitterrand, President of France, and the German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, announce jointly the establishment of a Franco-German European Army Corps and invite the Member States of Western European Union (WEU) to take part.
On 21 January 1993, at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Headquarters in Brussels, General John Shalikashvili, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR), and the French and German Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Jacques Lanxade and General Klaus Naumann, sign an agreement establishing operational links between the NATO military structure and the Franco-German Eurocorps.
On 14 July 1994, the Eurocorps takes part in the military parade along the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The Eurocorps was established on 22 May 1992 at the Franco-German Summit in La Rochelle, and was subsequently opened up to include other countries: Belgium (1993), Spain (1994) and Luxembourg (1996). The decision to include Eurocorps among the forces answerable to Western European Union (FAWEU) was confirmed at the meeting of the WEU Council of Ministers on 19 May 1993 in Rome.
On 23 September 1961, the Austrian daily newspaper Arbeiter-Zeitung comments on the implications of European integration for Austria, with particular emphasis on the need to respect the country’s neutral status.
On 5 May 1972, Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian Foreign Minister, delivers an address in Lucerne in which he emphasises the possibility of combining a European integration policy with the principle of neutrality, highlighting, in particular, the example of Austria in the Council of Europe.
In 1974, at a conference held in Austria on the economic and political situation in Europe, Archduke Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen, President of the International Paneuropean Union, emphasises the need for a precise interpretation of Austria’s neutral status, which in no way precludes the country from becoming a member of political or economic organisations.
