Ten years have passed since the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in violation of international law and two and a half years since Moscow began its brutal aggression against its neighbor Ukraine. However, Austria's national security strategy continues to describe Russia as a "strategic“ and "substantial“ partner. It has long been clear that this is no longer acceptable. The government has therefore decided to fundamentally revise the 2013 doctrine, which was to be presented to parliament last year, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
However, the government adopted the new strategy only this Wednesday. The delay shows the contradictions it creates between the coalition partners in the country. The Greens have been pushing for a mention in the strategy of climate change as a security risk, and have also demanded a commitment that Austria will wean itself off Russian natural gas by 2027. According to Austrian media, these demands have met with opposition from the Austrian People's Party . In the end, the junior partner in the government prevailed on both counts, but only after agreeing to nominate ANP Finance Minister Magnus Brunner as the future European Commissioner.
90 percent of natural gas still comes from Russia
The new doctrine already uses a hard tone regarding Russia. It states that relations have changed radically since the start of the war against Ukraine. In the strategy, Russia is repeatedly described as a conventional and hybrid threat to Europe. Moscow is said to be using energy and food exports as a weapon, which was clearly demonstrated in relation to natural gas supplies to Europe.
What sounds like an obvious statement of fact is a symbolically important step for Austria. Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer and other members of the government have regularly made similar statements over the past two and a half years. However, the country is considered to be more friendly towards Russia within the EU, according to Neue Zürcher Zeitung. To the "peace mission” of Viktor Orbán in early July, Nehammer was the only senior European representative to visit Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
There is also still the impression that the business community does not really want to sever close ties with Moscow. Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International, for example, is the largest remaining Western financial institution in Russia. Above all, however, Austria continues to buy the most gas from Russia, accounting for about 90% of imports this year, the Swiss newspaper notes.
The security strategy now states that the use of gas as an energy source must be reduced as quickly as possible and that Russian gas must be cut off by 2027. This is also not new, but a stated EU objective, which Austria supports. Energy Minister Leonore Gevesler, who is from the Greens, always emphasizes this, but the ANP does not support her implementation plans.
In this context, at the beginning of August, the British magazine "Economist" came out with a material entitled "Vladimir Putin's Useful Idiots", in which he placed Austria in second place in the ranking. The magazine mainly described the awkward international situation in which Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehhammer found himself and which he was trying to deal with after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The German broadcast "Tagesschau" quotes Wolfgang Müller of the Institute for East European History at the University of Vienna and his conclusion: "Despite all political statements, Austria's dependence on natural gas [from Russia] has not been significantly reduced since the beginning of the war.
Since the beginning of the war, seven billion euros have flowed from Vienna to the account of "Gazprom", notes "Tagesschau". . That may not be much, considering the $390 billion in total profits that Moscow collected from oil and gas over the same period. But Eastern European expert Müller reduces the arithmetic to a neutral Austria - that's 590 euros per capita for Putin's military spending. Müller concludes that Austria gives much more to the aggressor than to the victim.
In Austria's new security doctrine, notes Neue Zürcher Tsaitung, it is stated that the refusal of Russian gas must be carried out "as part of a comprehensive strategy" that also includes access to an alternative source of this raw material for individuals and the economy. This was already the moot point for conservatives. Although the strategy sets the direction of the country's security policy, it is doubtful whether it will change anything concrete.
In this regard, the newspaper "Standart" pointed out that the issue of Russian gas is a point of conflict for the coalition partners in the Austrian government. The Greens, especially climate protection minister Leonore Gevesler, want independence from Russian energy carriers to be enshrined in the new security strategy. They claim that Russia is deliberately using energy as a weapon. Dependence on Russian gas is therefore a risk to Austria's security.
The Austrian People's Party-led chancellery, on the other hand, rejected such specific wording in the negotiations on the joint document and wants to implement a more general version that only talks about abstract "unilateral dependencies on specific raw materials” that lead to the risk of "external economic influence”.
The opposition criticizes the "convergence” with NATO
The government remains committed to the country's neutrality. However, this does not mean that the country should remain indifferent if international law and the territorial integrity of a country are violated, the policy document states. EU-NATO cooperation has been described as crucial to Austria's security - another clarification that will have an impact on domestic politics. As a result, the so-called interoperability with NATO should be strengthened.
The opposition parties the Austrian Social Democratic Party (ASP) and the Austrian Freedom Party (APF) interpret this as rapprochement with NATO, which they reject. However, this is a policy that Austria has been pursuing for years, although it has rarely been explicitly announced. However, it is likely to cause a stir in the parliamentary debate.
Elections for a new parliament in Austria will be held next month. Whether the new security strategy will be put to a vote by MPs beforehand remains as open a question as how the future Austrian government will act on it, notes the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.