Austria Country Information

Background:

Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, 's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized 's independence, and forbade unification with . A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. Following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995, some Austrians have called into question this neutrality. A prosperous, democratic country, entered the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999.