VIENNA (Realist English). February 24, 2022 was a violent shock that pulled us out of our dreams of a post-national and post-historical Europe. There will be no return to the status quo in relations with Russia, that is, to the situation that existed before the start of the Russian special operation in the Ukraine, Alexander Schallenberg, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria said in an interview with ukrinform.ua.
“As for Austria’s neutrality: it would be a dangerous delusion to believe that neutrality equals security. That is why the Federal Government will also develop a new Austrian Security Strategy. The main question here is how Austria, together with its partners, can most effectively contribute to security in Europe. Our partnership with NATO also offers opportunities for this. But joining NATO is not on the agenda,” the Austrian diplomat explained.
In his opinion, strong multilateralism and international treaties are necessary for peace and security:
“Together we created the UN Charter after the Second World War as the fundamental rules of the world community. These rules are also the basis of the European security architecture.
We cannot change history or geography. Russia will not disappear from the map. The European security architecture must continue to take this reality into account. Multilateralism means not only exchanging views with like-minded partners and listening to the echo, but also — based on clear positions — discussing with States with which we have not the same opinion. Therefore, I believe that platforms such as the OSCE continue to be of great importance. “Versatility a la Facebook,” when the algorithm makes it so that you see only the content that is desirable, would be a dangerous development and definitely not in our interests.”
