Van der Bellen for Austrian help in demining in Ukraine

2023-05-18 08:55:00

At the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik, which ended on Wednesday, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen spoke out in favor of Austrian support for demining civilian areas in Ukraine. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) once again rejected this initiative. She agrees with the FPÖ, which identified problems with Austrian neutrality.

“I don’t understand why the federal government is still hesitating on the question of demining. (…) Support in demining civilian areas such as residential buildings, schools, kindergartens or agricultural areas certainly does not contradict Austrian neutrality, but is a humanitarian matter.” , said Federal President Van der Bellen – who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Army – in a statement.

VP and FP against for different reasons

Defense Minister Tanner sees it differently. She emphasized to Ö1 on Thursday that it is currently not possible “to be able to distinguish between humanitarian and military demining” in Ukraine. In addition, the Austrian demining devices are currently in use in the Western Balkans. According to Tanner, Austria would provide financial support for a Europe-wide humanitarian demining campaign in Ukraine.

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl said in a broadcast on Wednesday that a demining service in Ukraine would contradict Austrian neutrality: “Van der Bellen is treading on a dangerous political slippery slope if he thinks that Austrian soldiers in Ukraine could defuse mines.” , according to Kickl. The international law expert Ralph Janik, on the other hand, recently saw the EU Council decision on support for Ukraine as covering mine clearance assistance under constitutional law.

The ÖVP military spokesman Friedrich Ofenauer also spoke out in a broadcast against Austrian support for demining in Ukraine: “There must be no security risk for Austrian soldiers. The situation in Ukraine is unstable and unpredictable.”