Austria- India relations
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History
Austria’s neutrality and Nehru
July 11, 2024: The Indian Express
What was the link between Jawaharlal Nehru and Austria?
After World War II, Austria was divided up into four zones, and occupied by the victorious Allied Powers — the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France.
However, Austria wanted to be a sovereign country. By remaining neutral, Austria hoped to foster relations with both Western and Eastern bloc countries, and play a unique role in international diplomacy.
But its location — right in the middle of Capitalist Western Europe and Communist Eastern Europe — left it vulnerable to becoming a Cold War flashpoint. Both the Soviets and the West had intentions of bringing Austria under their umbrella.
This is where Nehru enters the picture. Köchler wrote in Austria, Neutrality and Non-Alignment (2021) about how in August 1952, the Political Director of Austria’s Foreign Ministry came to New Delhi to meet Nehru, who assured him of India’s readiness to sound out the Soviets on Austria’s aspirations. That year, India was among the few countries that supported Austria’s appeal at the United Nations General Assembly for the end of Allied occupation, and restoration of sovereignty.
On June 2, 1953, Austrian Foreign Minister Karl Gruber and Nehru attended the coronation of Elizabeth II, and according to media reports, the next morning, they met in London. At a second meeting, on June 20, Köchler wrote, Gruber asked for Nehru’s help with the Soviet government in the deadlocked negotiations on the treaty between Austria and the four Allied Powers. He reportedly conveyed that his government was ready to offer “guarantees against Austrian participation in military alliances”, an important aspect of its neutrality that Gruber stressed on later too.
In his book The Political Settlement After the Second World War (1972), British historian Sir John Wheeler-Bennett wrote that Nehru’s role as “diplomatic mediator” introduced “an entirely new factor into the Austrian treaty discussions”.
Köchler quoted a report in the Austrian daily Neues Österreich on June 21, 1953, that said: “Prime Minister Nehru… is without a doubt the only personality in international politics whose ‘good offices’ can be effective in supporting Austria in her efforts towards the realization of the State Treaty.”
In his 1976 memoirs, Gruber wrote about Nehru’s role in reaching the treaty.
In May 1955, what was to be known as the “Bürgenstock Initiative” became the foundation for the successful conclusion of the treaty. Bruno Kreisky, at the time Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, and later Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Austria, stated at the time in Volume 1 of his Book Reden: “So ist der Name Nehru für immer mit der Geschichte unserer Neutralität verbunden (Thus, the name of Nehru will forever be connected with the history of our neutrality).”
In June 1955, PM Nehru paid a State visit to Austria, roughly one month after it had gained full independence through the conclusion of the State Treaty. Nehru’s was the first State visit of a foreign leader to newly independent Austria.
Does Austria continue with its neutral status?
While Austria is strictly bound by the neutrality enshrined in its Constitution, specifically Article 9a, which declares that Austria will not join military alliances and will not allow foreign military bases on its territory, an incompatibility with the said status and an alignment towards the West have been evident since the end of the Cold War in 1991.
In 1995, Austria joined the European Union as well as NATO’s ‘Partnership for Peace’.
Post 9/11, Austria’s cooperation with Western-led counterterrorism and security initiatives has deepened. In 2001, its Parliament adopted a law authorising the Defense Ministry to allow the transit and temporary presence of foreign forces through or on Austrian territory – a provision that has been used frequently by NATO forces. Moreover, in recent years, Austria has seen major political shifts towards leaders and parties more inclined towards the West.
In 2010, its Parliament amended the neutrality law of 1955, inserting an Article into the Constitution allowing for active participation in military operations within the framework of Austria’s EU membership.
However, Austria is one of the three countries in the EU who are still officially neutral, along with Ireland and Malta.
Commenting on “a constant erosion of the country’s neutrality in favor of Western-centered realpolitik”, Köchler wrote: “Thus, it is not surprising that Austrian officialdom since the end of the Kreisky era has been almost completely silent about Prime Minister Nehru’s historical role as facilitator, and mediator, in the negotiations with the Soviet Union on the conclusion of the State Treaty.”
1949- 1955; 1983: Indira Gandhi
Anagha Jayakumar, July 11, 2024: The Indian Express
India’s relations with Austria were formally established in 1949. Given its support for non-alignment and Austria’s desire to sit out the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, there were areas of mutual interest. PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Austria in 1955 was also the first-ever visit by a foreign leader to the newly independent nation.
PM Modi’s visit came around 41 years after former PM Indira Gandhi visited Austria in June 1983. What was the context then and what were the visit’s highlights?
The Eurotrip
Indira Gandhi’s visit to Austria between June 17–22 in 1983 was her second visit there as Prime Minister, the first being in 1971. It was part of a larger European trip, which included visits to Norway, Finland, Denmark and Yugoslavia.
In the book India and Europe in a Changing World: Context, Confrontation, Cooperation (2023), professor Rajendra K Jain from the Centre for European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, wrote that the visit was to enhance India’s economic links with these countries. Then Austrian Chancellor Fred Sinowatz said “Indo-Austrian political relations were ‘extremely cordial’, but economic relations were far below their potential”, Jain wrote.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by a delegation that included External Affairs Minister PV Narasimha Rao, Defence Minister R Venkataraman, Energy Minister P Shiv Shankar, and Minister for Industry, ND Tiwari.
What issues were discussed?
Economic downturn: In Austria, the economic downturn at the time handed the Austrian Socialist Party (SPÖ) a defeat in the 1983 elections, ending the term of Sinowatz’s predecessor Bruno Kreisky, the country’s longest-serving Chancellor.
According to Jain, Kreisky was among the earliest Western statesmen to focus on the “imbalance in iniquities in the international economic system.” This was also reflected in Austria’s support for a New International Economic Order that sought to eliminate the widening gap between newly decolonised, underdeveloped countries and industrialised developed nations.
Gandhi also inaugurated and delivered the keynote address at the Indo-West European Dialogue Congress in Alpbach, where she stressed the need for economic development of the global south.
Political crises in India: The two leaders also discussed the domestic political situation in India. “Much of her (Gandhi’s) time was spent in explaining the situation in Punjab and Assam; these two issues dogged her at every press conference,” the book says.
While the Assam Anti-Foreigners Agitation was ongoing, particularly against the entry of Bangladeshis to India in the wake of the Bangladesh War of 1971, the government decided to host the Assam elections. A section of people disagreed with her decision to allow immigrant Bengali Muslims the right to vote.
Tensions came to a head in the early hours of February 18, 1983, as the Nellie Massacre unfolded within six hours and claimed a toll of nearly 2,000 people from 14 villages. The government nevertheless held the elections as scheduled.
In Punjab, Operation Blue Star had been conducted mere days before the Austria trip. In an attempt to remove Sikh militant JS Bhindranwale from the premises of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Indian Army entered the Sikh holy shrine. This led to severe discontent among many Sikhs against the government, adding to the politically tense situation in the country.
Outcomes
After the imposition of the Emergency in India in 1975, many viewed Gandhi as a break from India’s democratic tradition. Jain wrote that former Chancellor Kreisky was also “dismayed” at the move but did not make any public criticisms. “After the arrest of George Fernandes, Chairman of the Indian Socialist Party, in June 1976 he (Kreisky) addressed several joint telegrams… to Indira Gandhi.”
In this context, her foreign visits were seen as an attempt to continue her father’s legacy of reaching out to like-minded nations. Her trip was also followed by Chancellor Sinowatz’s visit to India in 1984.
One important outcome was the establishment of the Indo-Austrian Economic Commission. It remains active and sees cooperation between the two countries’ governmental Ministries and Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
“There has been cooperation in the fields of steel, manufacturing technology, railway and transport, renewables, equipment, metallurgy through a large number of collaborations, technology transfers and joint ventures,” according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs website.
