Offers no protection – “Austrian neutrality is a lie for life”

When asked “Would Austria’s neutrality provide protection against attack in an emergency?”, 51 percent of respondents said neutrality certainly means no protection at all, or rather no protection at all. Two-thirds say: “Europe is militarily dependent on the US and cannot defend itself on its own.”

Depending on the US
The survey conducted by Unique Research on behalf of the publishing house “Pragmaticus” shows that 66 percent of Austrians agree with the statement that Europe is militarily dependent on the US. However, only 44 percent expect the US to actually defend Europe in the event of an attack.

Joining NATO is rejected
The majority of Austrians reject membership of an EU army or NATO. The willingness to defend Austria with weapons in hand in an emergency is also quite low: 62 percent say they will not do so or probably will not do so. On the other hand, 28 percent can imagine defending Austria with a weapon.

Russia as the biggest threat
Almost the same number of Austrians consider a war on EU territory in the next ten years to be unlikely, namely 43 and 45 percent respectively. At 60 percent, Russia is clearly seen as the country with the greatest threat to peace.

Half of those surveyed are in favor of more investments by EU countries in armaments. If an EU country is attacked, a large majority of 57 percent will reject military aid from Austria.

“Welcome to cloud cuckoo land”
“Austrian neutrality is a lie,” says political scientist and pollster Peter Hajek in his commentary on the survey results. Almost every second person in Austria fears a war on EU territory in the next ten years.

“We know that without military help from the Americans – to put it bluntly – Europe would be lost,” Hajek explains. “Only a third of the population is convinced that neutrality protects us from attack. But three-quarters of the population wants to stick to neutrality. Welcome to the land of the cloud cuckoo.”