2024-08-16 08:32:09
Vienna. The Austrian ÖVP Green government is changing the entire Austrian National Security Strategy, two months before the elections on 29 September 2024. The government, which will present a new “National Security Strategy” for the first time in eleven years, described the current version as a basic document that is hopelessly out of date.
According to the news given by Krone, one of the main features of the new document is: Russia.
In Austria’s current security strategy dated 2013, Russia is still considered an “important partner” of the country. As the most important guide to national security policy has said, there are only traces of cyber warfare and “conventional attacks are unlikely”. This document was published a year before Putin’s invasion of Crimea and has not been revised since.
Until now.
According to the information provided by “Krone”, after a long struggle, the coalition partners will present the new “National Security Strategy 2024” before the end of the legislative period.
This strategy is completely different from the previous version:
The first sentence is about “Russia’s War of Aggression against Ukraine”. A few pages later it is said that the war was “brought back to Europe” and shook the security structure to its foundations.
In addition to nuclear threats from Russia, the danger of a conventional military war is also mentioned. Russia is also “using energy and food exports as a weapon”, meaning that “the risk of military escalation, including the use of weapons of mass destruction, has increased significantly”.
Along with the Russian issue, climate change is given much more attention as a risk factor, and migration and refugee movements remain key issues.
The economic consequences will provide a breeding ground for extremism, while “the Covid pandemic exposes the existing weaknesses in international supply systems”.
Military neutrality is out of the question
So what can be done in the face of countless threats, which in some cases are completely new? First: working together. While Austria is clearly committed to military neutrality, it will expand its partnerships and cooperation “in the field of defense policy”. “Cooperation and partnerships should be further developed,” he says. It is absolutely necessary that we take advantage of opportunities in the field of strengthening the interoperability of our security and military capabilities based on cooperation with NATO (…)”. This appears to be referring specifically to NATO’s Partnership for Peace, of which Austria is a long-standing member.
More militia
However, the readiness and response capacity of the militias within the country should be increased. The report recommends that the militia conduct more frequent drills. “Resilience”, ie the ability to recover independently from crises, whether military conflicts, epidemics, migration or cyber threats, is a high priority.
Has the gas problem been solved?
The reason it took so long to implement the new safety doctrine is said to be the controversial issue of “phasing out gas”. The report, prepared jointly by the black and green Ministries, includes the following statements: “In the energy sector, the use of gas as an energy source connected to the grid should be reduced as quickly as possible.”
Austria wants to “end its dependence on energy imports from Russia in accordance with the decisions of the European Council”.
The long-term foundation of our security
It is not yet clear when the new security strategy will be officially presented, but it will be valid for a while: These basic documents are designed for the long term, as the 2013 version currently valid shows. But, from now on it will be “continuously evaluated” and the government will be informed of possible changes every two years “or as needed”.
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