At yesterday’s National Security Council meeting on the occasion of the war in Ukraine, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer, as head of government, declared his support for the motions voted on there. One of these calls on the federal government to upgrade national defense and invest significantly more in the armed forces.
One consequence of the aggression is also the recollection of the necessity of military national defense. Nehammer: “The army’s budget was recently increased by Minister Klaudia Tanner. This course must be continued. It is important that all parliamentary groups make a clear commitment that this additional investment in Austria’s national defense is necessary.”
In fact, the motion to strengthen national defense was tabled by the opposition. The SPÖ, FPÖ and NEOS demanded that the existing deficit in the Austrian Armed Forces be eliminated so that it could guarantee comprehensive national defense, referring to the Ukraine conflict and the coronavirus pandemic – and the representatives of the governing parties ÖVP and Greens agreed with them.
In the Press, Anneliese Rohrer writes in a guest commentary (excerpt): “The SPÖ slogan ‘Six months are enough’ in relation to military service was one of the most effective for Bruno Kreisky in 1970. And all the governments after that also wanted to become popular by making savings in the army. … With the generally celebrated end of the Cold War in 1989, the realization should have spread that the West’s supposed protective shield had been lowered. But it did not. At the latest after the start of the Balkan wars (1991 to 2001), politicians should have eliminated the weak points in national defense. A foreign fighter jet over Graz? It just flew away. The dismantling of the army continued, while the population was persuaded after the successful EU accession: “Nothing can happen. War in Europe is out of the question.”
