Top Stories
Austria’s neutral status here to stay, foreign minister says
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
BERLIN (Reuters) – The foreign minister of Austria said his country would retain its neutral status even as EU allies Sweden and Finland overhauled decades-long foreign policy stances to apply for NATO membership in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
BERLIN (Reuters) – The foreign minister of Austria said his country would retain its neutral status even as EU allies Sweden and Finland overhauled decades-long foreign policy stances to apply for NATO membership in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The situation for us looks a little different,” Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told German radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday, pointing to “overwhelming” public support for neutrality in Austria.
Schallenberg said that the country, which obtains 80% of its natural gas from Russia, would continue to provide humanitarian support to Ukraine rather than lethal weapons.
“We are helping on a large scale but not with war munition and I think help for Ukraine cannot only be reduced to war munition,” he told the broadcaster.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has prompted a redrawing of national security policy in many European nations.
On Wednesday, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO, one of the most significant changes in Europe’s security architecture in decades, not least because Finland shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia.
Switzerland, not an EU member state and long known for a neutral status that kept it out of two world wars, is also leaning more towards joining the defence alliance, the head of security policy at the Swiss defence ministry told Reuters earlier this month.
(Reporting by Rachel More; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
Neutrality refers to the policy of not taking sides in conflicts or wars, allowing a country to maintain peace and avoid military alliances.
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance of countries from North America and Europe, established for mutual defense against aggression.
Humanitarian aid is assistance provided to people in need, often during crises, to alleviate suffering and improve living conditions without military involvement.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel composed mainly of methane, used as an energy source for heating, electricity generation, and as a fuel for vehicles.
Explore more articles in the Top Stories category
