ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the accession negotiations and the breakdown of neutrality in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The Amsterdam Treaty does update the CFSP to include cooperation in the field of armaments, and the inclusion of the Petersburg tasks. The Amsterdam Treaty does little to bridge the gap between inter-governmentalism and supranational input into CFSP decision-making. The accession negotiations that led up to the membership of Austria, Finland and Sweden saw a number of shifts in the three countries' economic policies, as was to be expected with accession. The European Union wanted more than a rhetorical commitment from the neutrals to prove that they were interested in developing the CFSP. Austria excluded membership as a national goal because of its status as a permanently neutral country. Hanspeter Neuhold notes that Austrian neutrality is deeply tied up with the nation's autonomy.