Participants in the plenary meeting of the National Council (the lower house of the Austrian parliament) will hear a petition, the initiators of which propose to include in the constitution a provision prohibiting the country from joining the Alliance, the press service of the Austrian parliament reported.
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It is clarified that the initiator of the petition entitled “No to joining NATO” was Lukas Papula. The document was signed by 109,089 people, or 1.72% of those eligible to vote.
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“In addition to the existing Neutrality Law, the petition calls for the adoption of a constitutional provision expressly prohibiting the Republic of Austria from joining NATO,” it said.
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According to the authors of the initiative, “under no circumstances should Austria be drawn into a military conflict due to the fault of short-sighted politicians,” “instead, diplomatic efforts should be intensified to position the Republic as an active international mediator in the fight for peace.” The justification for the petition, the authors stated, was “so that young Austrians would not have to go to war.”
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As representatives of the National Council explained, before transferring the initiative to the Constitutional Committee, the first reading of it is planned at a plenary session of parliament.
