I popolari austriaci e il processo di integrazione europea

In the aftermath of World War II, the issue of Austria’s fate, its recovery and continued political existence, was the forefront of the Allied policies. Especially Western Allies contributed assistance and funding which did much to further the economic reconstruction and the process of political consolidation. As a occupied country (1945-1955), Austria constituted a ‘special case’ and its relationship with Europe and European integration can be understood only against this geopolitical background. Consensus within the Grand Coalition ÖVP-SPÖ was the precondition for Austria’s successful foreign and European policy after 1945, based primarily on the reintegration in the community of Western states. Austria’s ‘perpetual neutrality’, the price paid in 1955 for its independence and Soviet troop withdrawal, was the starting point of the Austrian ‘lone course’ to Brussels, carried out mainly thanks to the efforts of the most pro-European party, the Austrian People’s Party, and especially pursued under Federal Chan ellor Josef Klaus (1964-1970). Waned during the “Bruno Kreisky era” (1970-1983), the fortunes of integration policy received a considerable boost in the mid-Eighties, thanks to foreign minister’s efforts, Alois Mock (1987-1995), who led Austrian delegation to the accession negotiations and played a key role in the final stages of the integration process, which led in 1995 the Austria’s accession to the European Union.