In this interview, Manfred Scheich, Head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Economic Policy and Integration and chief negotiator for the diplomatic negotiations on the country’s accession to the European Union from 1987 to 1995, describes the aims of the new European integration policy pursued by Austria from 1987 onwards. He particularly explains the concept of a global approach, which underpinned this policy until Austria joined the European Union in 1995.

In this interview, Manfred Scheich, Head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Economic Policy and Integration and chief negotiator for the diplomatic negotiations on the country’s accession to the European Union from 1987 to 1995, explains how the question of Austria’s neutrality was re-examined during the work conducted to analyse the establishment of closer relations between Austria and the European Communities.

In this interview, Manfred Scheich, Head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Economic Policy and Integration and chief negotiator for the diplomatic negotiations on the country’s accession to the European Union from 1987 to 1995, discusses how the Austrian authorities reacted to the proposal made in January 1989 by Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of the European Communities, for the establishment of a European Economic Area (EEA), and the impact of this proposal on the negotiations for Austria’s accession to the European Communities.

In this interview, Manfred Scheich, Austrian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1995 to 1999, discusses the nature and impact of the sanctions imposed by the 14 other Member States of the European Union on Austria as a result of the formation of a government coalition between the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in February 2000.

Posters published by the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) with a view to the parliamentary elections due to be held on 25 November 1945.

On 27 April 1945, after seven years of annexation by Germany, the Provisional Government of Austria publishes a declaration of Austrian independence which establishes the Second Republic of Austria.

In 1948, during the plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ), Ernst Fischer, member of the KPÖ, gives an address to the National Council in Vienna on the end of the military occupation of Austria and, in particular, accuses the Western Allies of attempting to slow down the implementation of a State Treaty for the re-establishment of an independent, democratic Austria.

Poster published in September 1972 by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) to promote the benefits of the free trade agreements between Austria and the European Economic Community signed in Brussels on 22 July 1972.