In 1991, Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), outlines why the progress made in European integration offers new options for Europe’s political and economic future.

On 16 July 1991, two years after the submission of Austria’s application for accession to the European Communities and in the light of recent political events in Central Europe, Alois Mock, Austrian Foreign Minister, emphasises the importance of European integration for his country.

Graph showing trends, between 1990 and 2004, in road transport across the Brenner Pass in the Alps which links Austria and Italy.

On 1 May 1992, some 400 people take to the streets of Vienna to demonstrate against Austria’s accession to the European Union.

In order to ensure that citizens are kept well informed about the implications of Austria’s accession to the European Union (EU), the Austrian Government sets up a free-phone number. On 14 December 1992, Alois Mock, Austrian Foreign Minister, replies personally to the questions submitted.

On 1 May 1992, on the margins of the demonstrations organised by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), opponents of Austria’s accession to the European Union (EU) unfurl a banner on the front of the City Hall in Vienna.

On 12 May 1992, the Austrian Green Alternative refers a motion of censure to the Austrian Chancellor, Franz Vranitzky, against the Transit Agreement between Austria and the European Union. In this photo, Rudi Anschober, Green MP, displays the Austrian flag soiled with tyre tracks, watched by the Chancellor, Franz Vranitzky (left), and the Minister for Transport, Victor Klima (right).

‘EC Treaty — State Treaty: Equilibrist’. In 1990, the Austrian cartoonist, Ironimus, illustrates the efforts made by Alois Mock, Austrian Foreign Minister, to reconcile Austria’s neutral status as defined in the 1955 State Treaty with the country’s wish to accede to the European Union.

In October 1993, Franz Fischler, Austrian Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, draws up a report on the implications for Austrian agriculture of the country’s accession to the European Union (EU).

In 1994, the Austrian Liberal Party Liberales Forum publishes a brochure in which it outlines the arguments in favour of Austria's accession to the European Union (EU).