BERLIN, July 27. /TASS/. Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger has said that the country is open to discussing its potential membership in NATO and that such a discussion could be "quite productive" amid growing security threats.
"One thing is clear: neutrality alone cannot protect us," she said in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. According to Meinl-Reisinger, the security situation is becoming increasingly instable and Russia is allegedly growing more and more aggressive. "[Austria] is protected by investments in defense and partner relations. I am principally open to discussing the future of Austria’s security and defense policy," she stated.
"Although there is no majority in favor of the NATO membership either in parliament or among the population, such a discussion could be quite productive," she said. "I don’t mean to say that we must join NATO triumphantly. But we cannot sit by saying: if we do no harm to anyone, no one will do any harm to us. It would be naive," she stressed, adding that the world has changed.
"However, I want to make thig clear: we have a partner, the European Union, who will defend us in an emergency situation. At the same time, we are contributing much to European security," she noted, adding that the Austrian military is participating in numerous EU peacekeeping missions. "In this context, Austria’s neutrality has visibly changed since its accession to the European Union in 1995," he pointed out.
Earlier, her party, New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS), called on its partners in the ruling coalition to look at the possible participation in the creation of a European army instead of sticking to the country’s neutrality. Austria’s off-bloc status is committed to paper in a special constitutional law, which was passed by parliament in 1955.