A comparative study of Maltese and Austrian neutrality

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the development of neutrality in Austria and Malta. These two countries have had compellingly different histories and for that reason the development of their neutrality is easier to contrast then to compare. Austria had strived to achieve independence since coming under foreign occupation after being defeated in the Second World War, then, rather forcefully, chose neutrality as the policy to accomplish this objective. By 1955, Austria had become independent and signed an international state treaty with the Soviet Union, France, Great Britain and the United States of America in which it promised to maintain a status of ‘permanent neutrality’ for the indefinite future. Only after the end of the Cold War would Austria see an opportunity to integrate with Western Europe. Now being a member of the European Union has distorted its neutral status, losing much of the significance it once had. Because by joining the European Union (EU) both states have automatically ceded power to a supranational organisation. Now, neutrality in both states is more acknowledged on paper rather than being believed to still be an active foreign policy. Since through EU membership these states do not decide which policies to embark on, but instead follow Europeanised policies. Malta only began pursuing neutrality after other options to save the economy failed. Integration with Great Britain was Dom Mintoff’s greatest effort (before adopting neutrality) to recover Malta from the dire economic situation it had been in ever since the end of the Second World War. Through hindsight we know that integration never went further than the negotiation stage and for that reason Dom Mintoff, even in opposition, chose that independence based on nonalignment would be the objective in which to diversify Malta’s economy. Once becoming Prime Minister in 1971, he would begin his process of turning Malta into a neutral state, attracting investment from any country willing to do business. By 1980, through a bilateral agreement with Italy, Mintoff had finally achieved a guarantee from a foreign state over Malta’s neutral status. Once the Nationalist Party returned to power in 1987 it would spend the next 12 years trying to join the European Union. By 2004, in Athens, this became a reality. Accession has also distorted Maltese neutrality but less so than Austria and this, along with other points, will be compared later on.