Austrian foreign policy and 20 years of EU membership: opportunities and constraints:Introduction to the special issue

When Austria joined the EU in 1995 it had to find its place in a substantially altered world order. Yet, rather than conceiving its membership in the EU as an opportunity to reenergize its foreign policy through Europeanization, Austria has displayed little interest in developing an active foreign policy profile within, or through, the EU. While membership in the EU meant a broadening of Austria’s foreign policy agenda – as Austria became involved in a broad range of international issues and started to participate in the multi-level negotiation process of the EU - its main contributions to European foreign poli- cy occurred in areas close to its national interest, as exemplified by its active role in the Western Balkans. Simultaneously, EU membership placed considerable constraints on Austria’s formerly independent national foreign policy, especially on Austria’s neutrality. This special issue brings together different international scholars with a longstanding expertise on dif- ferent aspects of Austrian foreign policy that they will cover to take stock of the Europeanization of Austrian foreign policy two decades after it joined the EU