Neutral Austria to join European Sky Shield initiative

The Austrian government wants the country to join the European Sky Shield initiative, an air protection group launched by Germany, sparking accusations from the far-right that the move violates the country’s military neutrality.

Austria is not a NATO member and is well-known for calling on others to respect the neutral country standard. Meanwhile, Chancellor Karl Nehammer argued for carve-outs on security guarantees for Ukraine during a leaders’ summit in Brussels last week, citing neutrality.

“The threat situation has massively intensified due to the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine. Austria will therefore join the European air defence initiative, Sky Shield,” Nehammer said on Saturday.

Negotiations to join are currently ongoing, the Defence Ministry said.

The initiative consists of 17 European NATO countries, except France, and aims to close gaps in European air defence to ward off wayward drones and missiles launched from Russia. Austria would be the first non-NATO country to join.

The planned accession to “Sky Shield” is a “devastating decision regarding neutrality policy,” castigated far-right FPÖ chief Herbert Kickl on Sunday, who says the decision invalidates the country’s much-touted neutrality.

“Nehammer and Co sacrifice neutrality at the altar of NATO,” said Kickl, whose historically Russia-friendly party is pegged to win the upcoming 2024 elections and is polling at around 30%.

Vienna argues that the bid to join the sky shield is by the country’s neutrality.

“Sky Shield” is not a NATO initiative or an accession to a military alliance, but merely, “the cooperation of a number of states”, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on Sunday. “Pooling and sharing” of military capabilities meant sticking to neutrality, he added.

(Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | EURACTIV.de)