Neutrality: Austria's weaknesses, Hungary's solo effort

Howitzers are rolling through militarily neutral Austria without state permission. NATO member Hungary has apparently refused these very transports. While Hungary's attitude to the Ukraine war is becoming more and more critical, Austria's government representatives are buckling more and more often. Hungary acts in the sense of the majority of its population, Austria ignores the will of the majority.


If you look at the current NATO map, there are only a few white spots left. After Finland's accession, another former neutral country, Sweden, is waiting to join. Bosnia and Herzegovina would also like to join the defence alliance. Currently, Ireland, Malta, Switzerland - and Austria are still militarily neutral. But the federal government is not so particular about this. At the New Year's reception for the diplomatic corps at the Hofburg in Vienna, Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen did not invite representatives of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus and the Islamic Republic of Iran.[1] The Minister of Justice is looking for a way to prosecute war crimes in Ukraine also through Austrian courts.[2] At every opportunity, political and media elites stress that Austria is militarily neutral, but not morally neutral.

Tanks roll through Austria
That this cannot be true is proven by a small domestic Austrian scandal that has been kept under cover for about 2 weeks. Specifically, it concerns the transport of M109L howitzers from Italy through Austria to Ukraine. When the first videos hit the social media in mid-April, the question quickly arose whether there was a permit for this. No, there was not, the Minister of the Interior hastened to emphasise, because the arms transport had only taken place between Italy and Poland, i.e. within the EU. On the basis of Italian [3] and Ukrainian [4] media, however, it can be quite clearly proven what is obvious to every thinking person anyway: the tank howitzers went from Italy through Austria and the Czech Republic to Poland, and from there directly to Ukraine. This is very delicate from Austria's point of view. According to the War Material Act, arms transports to a war zone via Austrian territory must either be rejected altogether or definitely approved by the Ministry of the Interior. In the meantime, an Austrian private broadcaster has also obtained a document from the Austrian Federal Railways showing that it was completely clear to all parties involved what was being transported.[5]

The Austrian federal government is acting against the will of the majority of the population. Current surveys show that two thirds of Austrians are in favour of neutrality and against joining NATO. But there are increasing signs that Austria's resistance has political gaps: from the Chief of Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces to the head of the Diplomatic Academy, people make no secret of their NATO sympathies. It is therefore all the more interesting that the supporters of neutrality are now receiving support from Hungary.

Hungary opposes
As is well known, Hungary, like Turkey, has not yet ratified Sweden's accession to NATO. Hungary has also - as has now become known - refused to allow the transport of howitzers across its own territory. Asked about this, the Hungarian ambassador in Vienna said that the government of his country regularly informs itself about the mood of the population in opinion polls. Therefore, they know that the majority of the population is against the transport of weapons through Hungary, and this is respected.

In recent months, Hungary has repeatedly voiced criticism of the EU sanctions and the arms deliveries to Ukraine. Unlike other states, it does not provide any military aid of its own. In January, the Hungarian ambassador to Ukraine had to answer for statements made by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.[6] In March, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, declared at a press conference in Budapest that there was no legal basis for executing the arrest warrant against the Russian president in Hungary.[7] This makes Hungary even more unpopular with Brussels' ruling elites than it already is.

No wonder, then, that the investigative platforms have already positioned themselves to join in the battle for the sovereignty of opinion. The portal Atlatszo.hu recently reported several times that Hungary was in fact cooperating more than it actually admitted politically. For example, French military helicopters had been delivered to the Ukrainian border police via Győr airport.[8] Atlatszo is a member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network [9] and has received several awards, including in 2012 from Global Voices and Google; in 2014 from the European Parliament; in 2015 from the Index on Censorship (UK); and in 2018 from Transparency International.

This analysis was first published in: Le Courrier des Stratèges on May 2nd, 2023
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