2 Michael Gehler, Österreichs Außenpolitik der Zweiten Republik. Von der alliierten Besatzung bis zum Europa des 21. Jahrhunderts (Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2005), 1021.

3 Paul Lendvai, Reflexionen eines kritischen Europäers (Vienna: Kremayr & Scheriau/Orac, 2005), 21.

4 Erhard Busek, Ein Seele für Europa (Vienna: Kremayr & Scheriau, 2008), 41.

5 Paul Schulmeister, Wendezeiten (St. Pölten: Residenz-Verlag, 2009), 198.

6 Eduard Schewardnadse, in an interview with Tessa Szsyzkowitz for Profil, 14 Sept. 2009.

7 Sweden in July 1991, Finland in February 1992.

8 Today, Norway has close connections with the EU through the EEA (European Economic Area) and its participation in the Schengen border zone.

9 Martin Eichtinger/Helmut Wohnout, Alois Mock: Ein Politiker schreibt Geschichte (Graz: Styria, 2008), 245: “Eykens said in front of journalists, ‘We love Austria very much, but we love Europe more!’ and contemplated publicly if one should enter negotiations with the Soviet Union regarding Austrian neutrality because, in his opinion, the neutrality imposed on Austria represented an obstacle in its accession to the EC.” [trans. Inge Fink]

10 Compare editor Hans Dichand’s impassioned pro-Europe plea in the editorial of January 1, 1994, Look Ahead!: “We have to understand that we cannot remain alone without endangering ourselves. A fragmented Europe is powerless against the giant USA, Japan with parts of Asia.... Will we choose the crisis-prone existence of a dwarf or will our old pan-European desires rule the day? “Consider also the sobering analysis of many Austrian journalists after Hans Dichand’s death, who had become an embittered anti-European, i. a. Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, “Die Krone regiert weiter“ [“The Krone Reigns on”]), Standard, 7 Oct. 2010, Hubert Patterer in the Kleinen Zeitung, of 20 June 2010, (“Letzte Unterwerfung” [“Last Act of Submission”]), Hans Peter Lingens, (“Der Manipulator“ [“The Manipulator”]), profil, 21 June 2010.

11 1985-1994.

12 Delors saw the EEA as an opportunity for Eastern-European nations. Jacques Delors, Erinnerungen eines Europäers (Berlin: Parthas-Verlag, 2004), 425: “In a programmatic speech in front of the European Parliament in January of 1989, I suggested to these countries, which are forever looking toward the advantages of an expanded domestic market, to let Eastern-European nations participate and to work together in forming the ‘European Economic Area’. The idea found much resonance. As an example, I mentioned the European countries that had been separated from us by the Iron Curtain. How to treat those who have the same rights we do to call themselves Europeans but who have not been able — institutionally and economically — to manage the accession in a short period of time?” [trans. Inge Fink]

13 Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

14 See the description given by Janos Székely, who, at the time, served as commander of the Hungarian border troops: “So viel Anfang vom Ende,“ [“Such a lot of beginning of the end”] Die Presse-Spectrum, 20 June 2009.

15 The seven opposing votes in the National Council came from the Green Party.

16 EEA partner Norway, who had handed in an application for accession in 1992, did not join the EC after a negative 1994 referendum.

17 Manfred, Scheich, Tabubruch: Österreichs Entscheidung für die Europäische Union, Schriftenreihe des Herbert-Batliner-Europainstitutes, Forschungsinstitut für Europäische Politik und Geschichte, Vol. 9 (Vienna: Böhlau, 2005).

18 For more information about this episode, see Paul Lendvai in Michael Gehler, Österreichs Außenpolitik in der Zweiten Republik, 1026.

19 Take, for example, the attack on a Soviet train that carried thirty-seven Jewish emigrants bound for Israel in the border town of Marchegg on September 1973 and the closing of the Schönau transit camp despite Israeli protests.

20 Lendvai, Reflexionen, 26.

21 Stuart Eizenstat, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II (New York: Public Affairs, 2003).

22 In the preface to Hubert Feichtlbauer’s book, Zwangsarbeit in Österreich 1938-1945: Fonds für Versöhnung, Frieden und Zusammenarbeit. Späte Anerkennung Geschichte, Schicksale (Wien: Braintrust, 2005), the author states: “For 55 years, the fate of former slaves and forced laborers, which were victimized on the territory of today’s Austria, was not considered an Austrian problem. Today we all agree that our country’s moral obligation includes this group of victims, particularly because many Austrians were among the perpetrators.”

23 There were direct proposals from other countries, among them France, Israel, USA, Serbia, Croatia, Germany, Canada, Great Britain.

24 European Union Border Assistance Mission at the Rafah Crossing Point (EUBAM RAFAH), in operation since November 24, 2005.

25 EU Police Mission in the Palestinian Territories (EUPOL COPPS), in operation since January 1, 2006.

26 Ursula Plassnik, “Mazal tov zum fünfzigsten Jahrestag! Für eine Zukunft in Vertrauen und Gemeinsamkeit,” Das Jüdische Echo 55 (2006): 12-16.

27 Bohunice und Mochovce (Slovakia), Kozloduy (Bulgaria), Ignalina (Lithuania).

28 Only once in the course of negotiations did Austria temporarily prevent a state from joining: The Czech Republic, because of energy concerns, in the fall of 2000. See Martin Sajdik and Michael Schwarzinger, Die EU-Erweiterung: Hintergrund, Entwicklung, Fakten (Vienna: Verlag Österreich, 2003), 271.

29 See Jonathan Powell, The New Machiavelli – How to Wield Power in the Modern World (London: Bodley Head, 2010).

30 See Wolfgang Schüssel, interviewed by Michael Gehler, “Interview mit Bundeskanzler a. D. Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel,” in Die umstrittene Wende Österreichs 2000-2006, ed. Robert Kriechbaumer and Franz Schausberger (Vienna: Böhlau, 2013), 841.

31 Gregor Woschnagg provides interesting insights into the Austrian EU presidency, see Hinter den Kulissen der EU: Österreichs EU-Vorsitz und die Zukunft Europas (Vienna: Styria, 2007).

32 The passage in the coalition agreement regarding the “options report” reads as follows: “Given the course of the EC Conference and the developments in European security politics, the Austrian government will thoroughly review all options, including the question of full Austrian membership in the WEU, and will report the findings to parliament before the beginning of Austria’s EU presidency but no later than the first quarter of the year 1998, as requested by the Chancellor, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the Minister for Defense. Based on the conclusions of this report, the government will make a recommendation to parliament on the best course of action. Austria will continue to develop its relationship with other security organization that are part of the network within which the EU member states negotiate their security and defense policies.” [trans. Inge Fink] Quoted in Heinrich Schneider, “Der sicherheitspolitische ‘Optionenbericht’ der österreichischen Bundesregierung: Ein Dokument, das es nicht gibt - und ein Lehrstück politischen Scheiterns,” in Die sicherheitspolitische Entwicklung in Österreich und der Schweiz, ed. Hans Fuhrer, Heinrich Schneider, and Ernest Enzelsberger (Vienna: Landes-Verteidigungsakademie, 1999), 4.

33 Rudolf Bretschneider, “Die neuen, alten Nachbarn,” Wiener Zeitung, 21 Feb. 2009, 1 and 4.

34 By the way, the only member of the National Council to vote against the ratification of a European constitution on May 11, 2005 was a delegate of the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party demanded a referendum after the Treaty of Lisbon had already been ratified. In both cases, the Austrian newspaper Kronenzeitung supported the Liberal Party with virtually hysterical fervor.

35 See also Ursula Plassnik, “Europa entsteht jeden Tag neu,” in Zukunft denken: Festschrift für Wolfgang Schüssel, ed. Andreas Kohl, Reinhold Lopatka, and Wilhelm Molterer (Vienna: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, 2005).

36 Gehler, Österreichs Außenpolitik in der Zweiten Republik, 872.

37 Peace activists in Vancouver, Canada founded Greenpeace in 1971; Transparency International was founded in 1993 in Berlin.

38 Karel Schwarzenberg is a textbook example of the new alliance between the work of NGOs and top politics. Very early on, he supported the resistance against the Communist government in Czechoslovakia, intervened on behalf of the opposition, and became active in the international human-rights movement. He had caught my attention when he was the president of the International Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (1984 and 1991). Personally, I mistook the mustachioed, mumbling old-Austrian for a hopelessly passé figure from an operetta. Then, in the early fall of 1989, I first experienced “Schwarzenberg live” at the awards ceremony for the Human Rights Prize, awarded by the European Council in the Strasbourg Hemicycle. Back then, I was primarily interested in the luminous figure of Lech Walesa. However, Walesa was anything but a born orator; his performance in front of the large Strasbourg audience was lackluster at best. Schwarzenberg, on the other hand, gave a brilliant three-minute speech, which completely captivated me. I have rarely changed my mind about a person in such a short amount of time. Much later, as foreign ministers, we harmoniously worked together on difficult topics like Temelin.

39 See the minutes of the 85th meeting of the National Council, XXIV. legislative period, for November 18, 2010.

40 Statistik Austria.

41 Austrian direct investments abroad by the turn of 2004/2005 amounted to € 51.2 billion, as compared to € 8.7 billion in 1995. In 2010, Austrian direct investments abroad amounted to € 132.5 billion, see Österreichische Nationalbank, Statistisches Sonderheft Statistiken Direktinvestitionen 2010 (As of the end of 2010).

42 BMeiA press release of September 18, 2012.

43 Quoted from Maria Lassnig, Die Feder ist die Schwester des Pinsels, Tagebücher 1943-1997 (Cologne: Dumont, 2000), 30.