Good Neighborly Relations and Cooperation

Austria is Hungary's second most important trading partner in terms of trade volume and the third largest investor in Hungary. As the Austrian Ambassador to Hungary, Alexander Grubmayr highlights to Diplomacy&Trade, bilateral political relations mainly focus on European and cross-border cooperation. He also talks about neutrality as a fundamental element in Austria's foreign policy ever since it was declared in 1955.

In October 2022, Ambassador Grubmayr began his speech at the national day reception held at his residence in Budapest by mentioning two great shocks people in this part of the world have been – and are – subject to: the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. As to how much – and in what way – these two occurrences have impacted relations between Austria and Hungary, the Ambassador states that “first the coronavirus pandemic and now the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine presented not just us but the whole world with a huge challenge. During the pandemic, the cooperation between the authorities of our countries was excellent. Especially at the very beginning, in 2020, we could rely on Hungary´s help with the evacuation of Austrian citizens worldwide. In this same year, Foreign Minister Schallenberg launched the so-called ‘Central 5’ initiative to foster central European cooperation in the fight against the consequences of the pandemic. Since then, this format has become an institution that contributes to enhance common Austrian-Hungarian efforts in other areas as well.”

He adds that bilateral cooperation between the two countries – especially between the border police on both sides of the border – proved very useful and helpful to ease the burden for commuters during the pandemic. “Furthermore, in spite of the difficulties due to the pandemic, trade relations between Austria and Hungary not only regained full momentum last year but also strengthened. When it comes to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, both our countries support the Ukrainian people in this very difficult situation. In mid-December, there were over 88.000 registered Ukrainians in Austria.”

Austrian ‘55’ and Hungarian ‘56’
In that speech, Ambassador Grubmayr also referred to Austria’s permanent neutrality. The question arises whether there was a connection between the events of 1955 in Austria and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Many historians share the view that there would have been no ‘56’ without the Austrian ‘55’.

As the Ambassador highlights, “the Austrian State Treaty was signed on 15 May, 1955 in Vienna, at the Schloss [Castle] Belvedere among the Allied powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Soviet Union) and the Austrian government. The treaty re-established a free, sovereign and democratic Austria. On October 26, 1955, the Austrian Parliament declared and adopted perpetual neutrality in the form of a constitutional law. Neutrality has been a fundamental element in Austria's foreign policy ever since. It should be stressed, however, that it is a military neutrality, but not an ideological neutrality.

On October 23, 1956 the first weapons were brandished against the communist dictatorship in Hungary and the news also reached Vienna. Austria maintained the security of its territory, its sovereignty and remained militarily neutral but the members of the Austrian federal government expressed their sympathy with the uprising in Hungary. Ambassador Grubmayr reminds that “Austria saw its humanitarian mission in helping the injured of the Hungarian Revolution and in proclaiming and securing the right of asylum. The neutral Austria could provide a secure refuge for numerous Hungarians fleeing their homeland. Our country accepted over 180,000 Hungarian refugees. Several thousands of them found a new home and built a new life here and became integrated members of the Austrian society.”

Austria regained its independence just one year before the Hungarian revolution. The question as to whether the developments in Austria were a positive historical example for the Hungarian people and the issue of interconnectedness of these developments with the Hungarian Revolution is for historians to decide, the Ambassador points out.

Successful management
He arrived in September 2020 to take up the ambassadorial position in Budapest. When asked what sort of challenges he – and the embassy staff – have had to cope with over these past two years, the first thing that comes to his mind is that he arrived in Hungary in the middle of the new coronavirus epidemic. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic regulations, we were managing meetings, projects basically online without meeting each other and held online events. We can tell that we were able to manage the bilateral relations successfully in this difficult period.”

European and regional cooperation
When it comes to Austrian-Hungarian political relations in general and the two countries’ cooperation on the international scene, Ambassador Grubmayr stresses that a very important area of foreign policy cooperation between Austria and Hungary is currently the enlargement of the European Union. In this context, the security of the Balkans, more specifically of the Western Balkans is a fundamental issue for both our countries. “We agree on the need to give the countries the perspective of joining the EU, which is at the same time the key for future security of Europe.”

Another challenging issue is the migration topic. Austria was – both in 2021 and 2022 – the country with the second highest per capita number of asylum requests in Europe. “Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation in order to effectively combat illegal migration and human trafficking. After the first Tripartite Summit on October 3 in Budapest, they met again in Belgrade on November 16. The aim is to reinforce controls at the border between Serbia and North Macedonia in addition to what is being done at the border between Hungary and Serbia. As I already mentioned, regarding the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Hungary and Austria have both been very active in the humanitarian field, trying to ease the fate of those who left Ukraine but also by helping the population in Ukraine through financial and other means of support,” the Ambassador highlights.

Multi-faceted cross-border cooperation
Being good neighbors, taking advantage of cross-border opportunities is very important between Austria and Hungary. Ambassador Grubmayr explains that regarding bilateral relations, economic relations and tourism play an important role. Hungary is Austria's most important export partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Austria is Hungary's second most important trading partner in terms of trade volume and the third largest investor in Hungary. About 1,400 Austrian companies employ approximately 70,000 workers and about 45,000 workers commute to Austria every day.

“As a good example, we should mention the cross-border cooperation program between Burgenland and Hungary in the framework of the Interreg program. This special cooperation covered not only economic fields such as the support of small and medium sized businesses that want to operate in both countries, but also cross-border education initiatives. The current focus is on environmental issues, national parks, the cultural heritage and the important issue of mobility, the connection of the railway to the Trans European Network (TEN). Besides this, there is also a bilateral cross-border rescue service agreement in the making that will further improve the coordination in the field of medical care. This is an important step forward that will directly benefit the people in the region,” Ambassador Alexander Grubmayr concludes.