Tanner presented her package together with Chief of Staff Robert Brieger in a meeting with the defense spokesmen of all parties on Thursday, Viennese media reported.
With this “neutrality package” – if it passes Parliament – an unprecedented defense budget would be achieved, which would open up new room for maneuver for the federal army, which has been greatly reduced in recent decades. 1.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) would be around six billion euros a year. The army budget is currently 0.6 percent of GDP or 2.7 billion euros. For comparison: At the height of the Cold War, the defense budget was just under 1.2 percent of GDP. Even anchoring it in constitutional status is up for debate.
This goal is to be achieved by means of a cross-party alliance, and most parties have recently expressed their support for a significant budget increase.
“The updated risk picture clearly shows that the security policy challenges underline even more clearly the need for increased state resilience. We must therefore increase military capability, ensure neutrality and think in European terms. In order to be able to continue to protect and maintain the security of Austria and its population and thus also its neutrality, we need a sustainable and modern national defence. We have to ensure an increased sense of security again, we owe that to the people who live in Austria. In order to be able to cope with all these challenges, we need a significantly higher budget, there was consensus on that in today’s discussion”Secretary of Defense Tanner said after the meeting.
The green military spokesman David Stögmüller also acknowledged the plans: “We need a joint cross-party alliance to further develop our army. Not for its own sake, but to protect us all. Together we want to adapt the budget to the needs of the updated risk profile. One thing is clear: we have to set priorities in terms of comprehensive national defense and work through the projects piece by piece.”
Thirty years of a budget in decline
The planned increase in the army budget to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product would be a historic event. For 30 years, defense spending has been in an inexorable descent. The last time an army budget was more than one percent of gross domestic product was in 1988. In the long-term record since 1970, there has never been 1.5 percent.
No money for fuel
Individual spikes in the long-term curve are due to installment payments for the Eurofighters in the years 2007 to 2014. The absolute low was reached in 2015 under Minister Gerald Klug (SPÖ) with a budget of just 0.5 percent of GDP. At that time, the military sometimes did not even have money for fuel and could no longer move their vehicles. In 2016 there was a slight increase due to the refugee crisis under the then Minister Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ).
Source: Nachrichten
