Information about Austrian State Treaty

The Austrian State Treaty (German: Österreichischer Staatsvertrag) or Austrian Independence Treaty established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955 in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union) and the Austrian government. It officially came into force on May 15, 1955.

Its full title was "Treaty for the re-establishment of an independent and democratic Austria, signed in Vienna on the 15 May 1955" (German: Staatsvertrag betreffend die Wiederherstellung eines unabhängigen und demokratischen Österreich, gegeben zu Wien am 15. Mai).

Generalities and structure

The treaty re-established a free, sovereign and democratic Austria. The basis for the treaty was the Moscow Declaration of October 30, 1943.

The signators of the treaty were the foreign ministers of the time: Vyacheslav Molotov (Soviet Union), John Foster Dulles (USA), Harold Macmillan (United Kingdom) and Antoine Pinay (France) on behalf of the Allies, and Leopold Figl as the Austrian foreign minister, as well as the four High Commissioners of the occupying powers: Ivan I. Ilitchov (Soviet Union), Geoffrey Arnold Wallinger (United Kingdom), Llewellyn E. Thompson Jr. (USA), Roger Lalouette (France).

The treaty is divided into 9 parts:

• Preamble
• Political and territorial provisions
• Military and air travel provisions
• Reparations
• Ownership, Law and Interests
• Economic relations
• Rules for disputes
• Economic provisions
• Final provisions

Important points in the treaty

As well as general regulations and recognition of the Austrian state, the minority rights of the Croat and Slovenian minorities are also expressly detailed. Anschluss (political union) with the new Germany, as had happened in 1938, was forbidden. Nazi and fascist organisations were prohibited.

Furthermore, Austria announced that it would declare itself permanently neutral after the enactment of the treaty. The USSR had expressed its wish for such a declaration of neutrality as a guarantee that Austria would not join NATO after Soviet troops had been withdrawn. Austrian neutrality was not actually in the original text of the treaty, but it was added by the Austrian parliament.

Result

As a result of the treaty the Allies left Austrian territory on October 25, 1955. October 26 is celebrated as a national holiday (called the Day of the Flag until 1965). It is sometimes thought to commemorate the withdrawal of Allied troops, but in fact celebrates Austria's Declaration of Neutrality, which was passed on October 26, 1955.

Development

First attempts to negotiate a treaty were made by the first post-war government. However, they failed because the Allies wanted to see a peace treaty with Germany first. A treaty became less likely with the development of the Cold War. However, Austria successfully held its part of Carinthia against the demands of a resurgent Communist Yugoslavia, even though the issue of potential reunification with South Tyrol, annexed by Italy in 1919, was not addressed. The climate for negotiations improved with Stalin's death in 1953, and negotiations with the Soviet foreign minister Molotov secured the breakthrough in February of 1955.

See also

• Occupation Zones in Austria
• Austrian Army

External links

• www.staatsvertrag.at - an acoustic web exhibition on the "Austrian Independence Treaty" (German)
• Leopold Figl zeigt einer Menschenmenge den Staatsvertrag (Video) (German)
• Austria is free (German)
• Website of the 2005 Jubilee Year
• Counter-website to the 2005 national celebrations (German)