Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Austria and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have a close relationship. Austria with Ireland, Cyprus and Malta are the only members of the European Union that are not members of NATO. Austria has had formal relations with NATO since 1995, when it joined the Partnership for Peace programme.
The US, France, and the UK initially agreed to end its occupation of Germany in May 1952 under the Bonn–Paris conventions on the condition that the new Federal Republic of Germany, commonly called West Germany, would join NATO, because of concerns about allowing a non-aligned West Germany to rearm.
After Austria's entry into the European Union (EU) in 1995, both are member-states of the EU and have same currency and free border; however whereas Germany is a member nation of NATO from 1955, Austria in accordance with its strict constitutional requirement of neutrality is not a NATO member.
The issue of Georgian and Ukrainian membership in NATO prompted harsh criticism from Russia, as did NATO plans for a missile defence system. Studies for the system had begun in 2002, with negotiations centered on anti-ballistic missiles being stationed in Poland and the Czech Republic.
All members have militaries, except for Iceland, which does not have a typical army (but it does have a coast guard and a small unit of civilian specialists for NATO operations). Three of NATO's members are nuclear weapons states: France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO has 12 original founding member states.
Austria's military significance had been largely devalued by the end of the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict and the upcoming signing of the Warsaw Pact. [103] These fears did not materialize, and Raab's visit to Moscow (12–15 April) was a breakthrough. Moscow agreed that Austria would be free no later than 31 December.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is made up of legislators from the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance as well as thirteen associate members. It is however officially a structure different from NATO, and has as aim to join deputies of NATO countries in order to discuss security policies on the NATO Council. [184]
Discussion of possible Austrian NATO membership intensified during 1996. ÖVP and Team Stronach aim at moving closer to NATO or a European defense arrangement. SPÖ and FPÖ , in turn, believe continued neutrality is the cornerstone of Austria's foreign policy, and a majority of the population generally supports this stance.