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Austria's Refusal To Allow Transit of American Troops Introduction In February 2003, Austria refused to grant permission to the United States to transit American troops from its bases in Germany to Italy as part of the mobilization for the invasion of Iraq. In April 2003, Austria refused to allow American aircraft to use its airspace when in transit to forward bases with range of Iraq. The Austrian government appeared to have based this decision on popular anti-American sentiment within its nation that made the decision popular, using its traditional neutrality laws as the justification for the action. The Austrian neutrality laws, however, apply only in cases in which war has been declared between belligerents. (Support if possible) In addition, the government of Austria indicated that it would participate in a war against Iraq to enforce sanctions only if such a war was authorized by the United Nations. In the past, Austria had regularly granted requests made by the United States to conduct overflights of Austrian territory and to transit troops by rail.
As a result, the refusal of Austria to allow the passage of troops came as a surprise to the United States. The United States was forced to reroute the transit of troops from Germany through Rotterdam, causing substantial delays in the estimated time of arrival of the forces in Kuwait, which was the staging area for the invasion of Iraq. The Austrian prohibition also created significant concerns that there would be insufficient troops in place to initiate an action against Iraq prior to the summer of 2003, which was deemed essential due to the expectation that the ground forces would have to wear heavy chemical protective gear. (Support if possible) Although the United States launched its invasion in accordance with its schedule, its experience with the Austrian refusal to permit troop transit has resulted in a reassessment of the American strategy of forward deployment with troops no longer stationed in Germany in large numbers. In Austria, the decision to refuse transit to American troops has been politically popular and has provided some degree of strength to the Freedom Party (FPO), which governs in a coalition with conservative Peoples Party. The FPO is radically conservative and some of the leaders of the Party had direct connections with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The Party had lost a substantial number of seats in the Nationalrat in the elections of 2002 due to a scandal involving Iraq and the FPO leader at the time, Jorg Haider.
Adopting a position that did not support the United States may have been an attempt to demonstrate that Haider and the FPO had made the correct decision in establishing a relationship with Iraq. These factors suggest that the Austrian refusal to allow passage to American troops was the result of internal political considerations and not fully based on the nations desire to maintain strict neutrality in an international conflict that did not directly concern Austrian interests. (Please find multiple sources supporting this) Political Environment and the Neutrality Laws The current political system of Austria and the perception of the purpose and relevance of the neutrality laws is largely the product of the events occurring following World War II. This period brought the development of the Austrian Peoples Party (Osterreich Volspartei-OVP) and the Social Democrat Party (Sozialistische Party Osterreich-SPO), which formed a governing coalition that was not disturbed until the growth in power of the Freedom Party in the mid 1990 s. (Support) In addition, Austria adopted its neutrality laws during the early Cold War period as part of its measures to forestall partition between the Soviet and Western blocs. Soviet forces entered Austria from the east in late March 1945, with American forces entering from the west a few weeks later. (Source) By the time the American forces arrived, the Soviets had already established a communist provisional government and had installed the government in Vienna. The Western Allies rapidly established their own provisional government, fearing that the Soviets wanted to fully control Austria.
It was not until July 1945 that an agreement was reached between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union that divided Austria into four occupation zones and established the mechanism for a national government to be put in place by elections rather than by fiat of an occupying power. The agreement banned the Nazi Party from the election process. In the first elections held in November 1945, the OVP received 50 % of the vote, the SPO received 45 %, and the Communist Party (KPO) received 5 %. Because the OVP did not have a sufficient majority, it formed a coalition government with the SPO and the KPO, with various ministry positions distributed in proportion to the percentage of the vote garnered by each party. This established a pattern of government by coalition with the various political parties cooperating at a ministerial level, with the system remaining in place at the current time. The composition of the government is determined by agreement between the political parties after the election in a process of negotiation between the chairmen of the parties.
This first election also established the OVP as the dominant political Party in Austria and its ability to determine the majority of the policies that will be adopted by the government. In 1946, the occupation agreement was modified by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union to reduce their influence over the nation. This was based on the assumption that Austria was moving rapidly toward democratic rule and that it did not require the level of supervision that was necessary for occupied Germany. The Soviet Union attempted to block the nations participation in the Marshall Plan, with the KPO withdrawing from participation in the government in 1948. This left the OVP and SPO in total control of the government. Over the next five years, Austria negotiated with the occupying nations to obtain a permanent peace treaty and a withdrawal of the occupying forces.
The Soviet Union did not support this objective due to concerns that Austria would position itself with the West. To break the negotiating stalemate, Austria proposed that it would formally adopt a position of neutrality and pass legislation to insure that the nation would not participate in military actions against other nations unless it was directly attacked. (Source) The Soviet Union accepted this proposal, which resulted in the passage of the Neutrality Law of Austria in 1955. Shortly afterward, Austria obtained a formal treaty known as the State Treaty with the occupying nations and foreign forces withdrew from Austrian soil. The Neutrality Law is a constitutional law, which became part of the national constitution that was originally adopted in 1920. The constitution can be changed only by a two-thirds majority of the Nationalrat at a legislative session where more than one-half of the members are present for voting. It is also possible to amend the constitution by a national referendum if requested by one-third of the representatives of the Nationalrat or one-third of the representative of the Bundesrat, which is the upper house of the legislative body.
By passing the Neutrality Law as a constitutional law, the Nationalrat made it very difficult to change without significant political or popular support. Article I of the Neutrality Law expressly states that the purpose of the law is to support Austria's claim of its independence and the inviolability of its territory. It further states that Austria will adopt perpetual neutrality and will maintain and defend its neutrality by every possible means. It also states that Austria will not join any military alliance in the future and will not allow foreign military bases to be established on its soil. The Law did not mention matters such as over flights over its airspace or the transit of foreign troops over its soil during times of peace. The issue of transit of military forces through neutral territory during time of war is governed by the Haag Convention (Fn explaining this) following a declaration of neutrality by a nation.
The issue of transit of military forces through the territory of a declared neutral is governed by the customs of international law, which requires that the nation seeking transit obtain permission for the movement from the neutral nation. This obligation to obtain permission also applies to over flights by foreign military aircraft above the territory of the neutral nation. (more sources for this whole paragraph, find support for info) The subsequent policy of Austria towards other nations has been governed by a balance between foreign policy, neutrality policy, and defense policy, with the relative weight of each component changing over time. During the period between the passage of the Neutrality Law in 1955 and 1961, Austria attempted to strictly maintain its neutrality based on the Swiss model of armed protection of its territorial integrity. The nation was keenly aware that its continued independence largely depended on maintaining neutrality, particularly after the Hungarian revolt of 1956 that brought Soviet troops to the border between Austria and Hungry. This position, however, began to change after 1961 due to the increasing interest of Austria to strengthen its ties to the United Nations and the European Community.
As a result, Austria began sending its troops on various United Nations peace keeping missions. This policy was later labeled as active neutrality, and was formalized as a position of the government in 1970. In this interpretation of neutrality, Austria would participate in military engagements beyond its borders if the military action was sanctioned by the United Nations, which Austria recognized as the only legitimate international body to conduct such military operations. In addition, Austria placed greater weight on its defense policy in order to limit refugee flows into the nation and to discourage any Soviet block nation to annex Austrian territory.
There is significant evidence that the Austrians gradually came to perceive neutrality as a symbol rather than an absolute value after 1970. This perception was based on the historical reason that the nation adopted neutrality, with neutrality as a condition for independence. In addition, the constitutional mechanism in Austria allowed the Nationalrat to repeal the Neutrality Law at any time. This perception that neutrality could be only a transitory expediency was strengthened when Austria entered into discussions with the
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Research essay sample on Refusal To Allow Transit Of American Troops
