Writes International Relations student, Ed Inglis.

*The views in the following article are the personal views of the author and are not an official position of the School.*

A unique visit

Thursday 27 March saw the University of Sussex’s International Relations Society second Embassy visit of 2025, this time to the Austrian Embassy in London. Rather unusually, the Ambassador’s Residence is conjoined with the Embassy, both located at 18 Belgrave Square.

This is in large part due to the historic nature of the building, having been designed and built in the early 19^th century, before Austria took residence in 1866. As a result, it is the singular Embassy building remaining in use from the Imperial and Royal-Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service, who had reestablished their diplomatic mission in the UK in 1816 following the Congress of Vienna in the year prior.

However, 18 Belgrave Square was not continually occupied by Austria during this period. Indeed, Austria was officially at war with the UK during both the First and Second World Wars, where the US and then Sweden, and Switzerland were all charged with its temporary safe keeping.

A warm welcome and a tour

So, we arrived not at the entrance to the Embassy, but at the Ambassador’s Residence. Here we were warmly welcomed by Ms Anna Pernegger, the Press and Public Diplomacy Officer for the Austrian Embassy in London. She gave us a wonderful tour of the historic building and its contents, including ornate chandeliers, grand rugs, and oil paintings of former kings, queens, ambassadors, and the like.

One of which was Austria’s first Ambassador to the UK, Paul Anton III (see below), who served in this post for 27 years from 1815 until 1842. Nowadays, much like other foreign embassies, Austrian Ambassadors usually serve for a period of four years in one country.

The current Ambassador

For the current Ambassador, H.E. Bernhard Wrabetz, the UK will be his final diplomatic post after a successful, storied, and much-enjoyed 35-year career. Before training to become a diplomat, His Excellency studied History and French at the University of Vienna and briefly taught these subjects afterwards.

Using these skills, His Excellency served in a wide range of diplomatic posts, inter alia in Mauritania, Portugal, and India, and held various roles not only in the Austrian foreign service but also in the United Nations and other multilateral organisations.

Thus, the Ambassador is himself a strong proponent of Multilateralism, reflecting a core value of Austrian Foreign Policy. This was something Ms Pernegger outlined in her informative presentation on the fundamental elements of Austrian Foreign Policy including Neutrality.

We also participated in a friendly Question & Answer session with the Ambassador himself, where we discussed Brexit, Neutrality, Culture, and Identity. On the first issue, Austria is hopeful that the UK’s government can and will position itself closer to the European Union, without the baggage of Brexit.

The fundamental principle of Neutrality

What primarily stands out in Austrian Foreign Policy is their fundamental principle of Neutrality. This ideal initially took the form of an obligatory commitment following the Allied occupation of Austria in the decade after World War Two, where in return this occupation would cease. Nowadays, Austria is under no international legal or political obligation to maintain this commitment; though, the principle of Neutrality, as enshrined in the Austrian constitution, has become entrenched in the Austrian National Identity. Thus, Austria is unlikely to abandon this ideal.

In practise, Neutrality means that Austria does not host any foreign military’s base on its soil, does not participate in wars abroad and joins no military alliances. In order to promote peace and security, Austria pursues an active and committed neutrality policy, through multilateral diplomacy for example, acting as a mediator and hub for dialogue and via deploying troops to UN, EU and OSCE peacekeeping missions.

Austrian servicemen and women currently serve in eleven missions abroad and the largest Austrian troops, with around 200 personnel respectively, are in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR), Kosovo (KFOR) and Lebanon (UNIFIL). This keenly illustrates what the Ambassador described as the ‘Avocado’ of Austrian Neutrality. In other words, at the core, there sits an unshakeable commitment to no military involvement. However, around this core sits other elements of neutrality, such as political, that remain soft and malleable.

Indeed, prior to Austria’s accession to the European Union 30 years ago, Austria largely believed in broader political neutrality, especially following the collapse of the USSR, and projected global stability. However, events over the last two decades have firmly shifted this attitude towards strong political alignment with Multilateral institutions such as the EU and the UN, as well as Austria’s neighbours and allies. This is exemplified by the status of Vienna, Austria’s capital, as an international hub.

As a prominent European city, it hosts the headquarters of many organisations, including the UNOV Secretariat, the IAEA, the OSCE and the ODCCP. Furthermore, much like other European Nations, Austria has recently proposed a multitude of defence spending increases in response to the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine, including a 2023 commitment to spend €17 Billion on defence by 2032, and a 2025 proposal to achieve a defence spending rate proportional to 2% of GDP by the same date.

This 2% figure is an ostensible requirement of NATO membership (although many members fail to meet this); yet, Austria is not a member due to its principle of Military Neutrality. It seems unlikely that Austria would seek to join NATO given the strong sense of identity associated with the ideal of Neutrality, but these spending increases illustrate how much Austria has diverged from political neutrality in their quest for security. Unfortunately, the isolationist foreign policy of America under Donald Trump has resulted in the slashing of US funding for UN institutions, which in some cases represented up to 50% of their overall budget. As a consequence, UN institutions in general, including those in Vienna, are not ideally equipped to be as effective. In light of this, direct political alliances and relationships are even more important in achieving security. Though, the relationship between Austria and the UK may not be the best representation of this.

The UK-Austria relationship

Indeed, Bernhard Wrabetz characterised Austria’s relationship with the UK as one founded on culture, that is “very good, but largely superficial”. The surface-level nature of this relationship is attributable in part to Brexit, which as previously mentioned removed the infrastructure necessary for a deep association. Despite this, the UK remains Austria’s 10^th largest trade partner (as of 2022).

A large factor in this relationship is tourism, in particular the ski industry. Indeed, Brits were involved in the creation and promotion of skiing as a leisure activity in Austria, something that now forms a major proportion of Austria’s tourism industry. Tourism itself, now accounts for over 8% of GDP in Austria (and even in this general article on Austrian Tourism, British holidaymakers are directly mentioned).

Thank you to the Embassy for opening their doors

Maybe this is why the embassy were particularly hospitable to our society’s visit. I suspect not.

Since 2023, the Austrian government has operated a scheme that allows “descendants of Nazi victims to obtain citizenship through a declaration”. Upon the completion of the process, new Austrian citizens in the UK are hosted in the Austrian Embassy to celebrate this.

As a result, the Embassy staff, and the Ambassador himself are more than used to hosting events and providing hospitality to their guests. One of these staff was Ms Naomi Hattam, who also works in the Press and Public Diplomacy Office. She, however, is not Austrian – she is one of the many local British staff who work at the embassy.

I was not aware that this was possible – I think I might start learning German!