• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Survey: 61 percent of Austrians want a federal army that can ward off attacks

Tender Branson

DP Veteran
Joined
Jun 3, 2021
Messages
6,688
Reaction score
4,057
Location
🇦🇹 Austria 🇦🇹
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Progressive
The majority of the Austrian population wants an increase in defense spending and a stronger military orientation of the federal army. Almost two thirds (61 percent) think that the army should be geared more towards being able to ward off military attacks on Austria.

This is the result of a recent survey conducted by pollster Peter Hajek on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The survey was conducted in the midst of the Ukraine war between March 2nd and 7th among 800 Austrians aged 16 and over. The range of fluctuation is +/- 3.5 percent.

604x340


50 percent are of the opinion that the army should be equipped with heavy weapons such as tanks in order to be able to ward off attacks. 42 percent disagree. 51 percent think that six months of basic military service is too short given the increased challenges. 38 percent disagree.

54 percent believe that national defense spending should be increased. 30 percent are in favor of leaving them unchanged and 9 percent in favor of a reduction.

In fact, the government is currently negotiating an increase in the army budget towards one percent of GDP from 2023 . That would mean an increase from the current 2.7 to around 4.3 billion euros. This year there could be start-up financing of around one billion euros, as can be heard from government circles.

This should meet with the approval of the population, as the approval for the federal army is very high, as the survey also shows. Two thirds (64) see the military as "very important" and "rather important" for Austria. A full 70 percent trust the Austrian Armed Forces, only 24 percent do not. The media appearances of the army officers who declare war every day in the Austrian media are viewed positively by a vast majority of 66 percent . Only nine percent see this negatively, 21 percent say "partly partly".

Despite the war in Ukraine, 55 percent feel safe in Austria, while the security situation in Europe is assessed as significantly worse: only 20 percent rate it as "safe" or "rather safe". 47 percent assess the situation as uncertain, 31 percent are undecided.
A third (32 percent) each feel "threatened" or "not threatened" by the war in Ukraine, while 35 percent answer "sometimes sometimes". Women (36 percent) feel significantly more threatened than men (28 percent).

There is a high level of approval, at 60 percent , for the Austrian measures to deal with the crisis, such as approval of the sanctions and the delivery of protective equipment to Ukraine.

The attitude of Austrians to neutrality is unshakable: 83 percent are in favor of maintaining it, only 16 percent are against it.


Austria only spends 0.6% of its GDP on the military.

This is one of the lowest amounts of any country on the planet and our military is virtually bankrupt and its equipment is rusting and falling apart.

From the 15 fighter jets we have (the only ones), there are only 3-5 of them ready to fly and only 1 or 2 of them can start 24/7/365, because the others are needing repairs all the time ... :p
 
The attitude of Austrians to neutrality is unshakable: 83 percent are in favor of maintaining it, only 16 percent are against it.

This is the highest value in favour of neutrality recorded in polling since the Ukraine War started.
 
The headline

Survey: 61 percent of Austrians want a federal army that can ward off attacks​


is kinda weird from an American or Russian perspective, countries that spend 4% of GDP per year on their military vs. 0.6% here.

So, for us here, the army was not really intended to "ward off attacks" from a foreign country, but rather to protect the population from natural disasters.

Our army in the past 20 or 30 years moved away from the military component and sent draftees to fill sandbags in times of floodings and to protect houses from being swamped. And to evacuate villagers when avalanches went down during winter.
 
What the Austrian military USUALLY does:

Filling sandbags during floods

hochwasser_12.jpg


Pioneers building new bridges during/after floods

aufbau_dbr_thurnberg.jpg


Cleaning up the rubble after floods

hochwasser1.jpg
 
"Yesterday" they were going to have a Vaxx mandate for everybody on pain of torture and death after repeated refusal -- minor poetic licence .

Seems to me that this known Fascist run coalition also has access to instant fake polls .

Nobody in their right mind wants Austria for anything but skiing and looking at stunning scenery .
 
"Yesterday" they were going to have a Vaxx mandate for everybody on pain of torture and death after repeated refusal -- minor poetic licence .

Seems to me that this known Fascist run coalition also has access to instant fake polls .

Nobody in their right mind wants Austria for anything but skiing and looking at stunning scenery .

What exactly are you talking about ?

The Austrian government is pretty clueless yeah and chaotic, but they are not "fascist". It's Conservatives + Greens in the government. Kinda centrist actually. They are quite idiotic on Covid, introducing a vaccine mandate, that has now been shelved and is not enforced, but that is hardly fascist. Fascist is the stuff you see in Russia and China.
 
Seems to me that this known Fascist run coalition also has access to instant fake polls .

Nobody in their right mind wants Austria for anything but skiing and looking at stunning scenery .
1647450160309.png
 
Looks like an increase in defense spending would also greatly bolster your flood preparedness.
 
What exactly are you talking about ?

The Austrian government is pretty clueless yeah and chaotic, but they are not "fascist". It's Conservatives + Greens in the government. Kinda centrist actually. They are quite idiotic on Covid, introducing a vaccine mandate, that has now been shelved and is not enforced, but that is hardly fascist. Fascist is the stuff you see in Russia and China.
Pay her no mind. Nobody worth your time would call Austria fascist or insinuate that nobody wants Austria. I appreciate your posts as in America we don't get much news from a European (and certainly not from an Austrian) perspective. It's nice to see what is going on over there.
 
Looks like an increase in defense spending would also greatly bolster your flood preparedness.

That is true of course. And I wouldn't mind it being increased to 1% of GDP or 1.5% of GDP.

But as the US, Austria has its political lobbys too:

In the US and in Russia, the DEFENSE lobby is extremely strong and the arms producers get their say in the government and in the Senate and House.

In Austria, it is very much the opposite:

Here in Austria, the RETIRED people (the crowd above 60) has basically bought the politicians. So, most of the money each year goes into raising pensions (much higher than German ones for example), maintaining healthcare (for old people) and other welfare stuff to have a good welfare net.

RETIRED people account for 1 in 3 voters after all, so politicians must listen to these people !

;)

Defense ? Not so much.

Defense Ministers usually ask for a raise, but all other interests and issues are more important.
 
"Yesterday" they were going to have a Vaxx mandate for everybody on pain of torture and death after repeated refusal -- minor poetic licence .

Seems to me that this known Fascist run coalition also has access to instant fake polls .

Monica: 'Austria wants to mandate vaccines during a pandemic?! Fascists!! Nazis!!!'

Also Monica: 'So what if Russia imprisons thousands of antiwar protestors? What business is it of yours?'


Nobody in their right mind wants Austria for anything but skiing and looking at stunning scenery .

Your shameless flaunting of historical ignorance is astounding.
 
Pay her no mind. Nobody worth your time would call Austria fascist or insinuate that nobody wants Austria. I appreciate your posts as in America we don't get much news from a European (and certainly not from an Austrian) perspective. It's nice to see what is going on over there.

Cool, thanks.

Very much appreciated.

;)
 
Monica: 'Austria wants to mandate vaccines during a pandemic?! Fascists!! Nazis!!!'

Also Monica: 'So what if Russia imprisons thousands of antiwar protestors? What business is it of yours?'

Your shameless flaunting of historical ignorance is astounding.

Yeah, she worries about a vaccine mandate that was proposed, but has now been put back on the shelves and there are no fines or anything, because the variant is leading to fewer ICU stays.

It's good to have the possibility in store though for a future vaccine mandate, because there could be a deadly variant again who targets the lungs, so it can be necessary again at one point.

Russia invades another country Nazi-style and arrests any protestors, but this is OK according to Monica ? Or what's going on in China ? Yeah sure ... :unsure:
 
Russia invades another country Nazi-style and arrests any protestors, but this is OK according to Monica ? Or what's going on in China ? Yeah sure ... :unsure:

Welcome to the delusional world of tankies/nazbols (actually she could be alt-right, those two worlds are becoming more and more intermingled.)
 
Welcome to the delusional world of tankies/nazbols (actually she could be alt-right, those two worlds are becoming more and more intermingled.)
The NazBol vortex is converging. Did you see that weird Tankie conference with Haz as the speaker?
 
The NazBol vortex is converging. Did you see that weird Tankie conference with Haz as the speaker?

I started watching it but 15 minutes in Haz was boring the shit out of me. I ended up skipping to the flag ceremony for the lulz. 🤣
 
The majority of the Austrian population wants an increase in defense spending and a stronger military orientation of the federal army. Almost two thirds (61 percent) think that the army should be geared more towards being able to ward off military attacks on Austria.

This is the result of a recent survey conducted by pollster Peter Hajek on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The survey was conducted in the midst of the Ukraine war between March 2nd and 7th among 800 Austrians aged 16 and over. The range of fluctuation is +/- 3.5 percent.

604x340


50 percent are of the opinion that the army should be equipped with heavy weapons such as tanks in order to be able to ward off attacks. 42 percent disagree. 51 percent think that six months of basic military service is too short given the increased challenges. 38 percent disagree.

54 percent believe that national defense spending should be increased. 30 percent are in favor of leaving them unchanged and 9 percent in favor of a reduction.

In fact, the government is currently negotiating an increase in the army budget towards one percent of GDP from 2023 . That would mean an increase from the current 2.7 to around 4.3 billion euros. This year there could be start-up financing of around one billion euros, as can be heard from government circles.

This should meet with the approval of the population, as the approval for the federal army is very high, as the survey also shows. Two thirds (64) see the military as "very important" and "rather important" for Austria. A full 70 percent trust the Austrian Armed Forces, only 24 percent do not. The media appearances of the army officers who declare war every day in the Austrian media are viewed positively by a vast majority of 66 percent . Only nine percent see this negatively, 21 percent say "partly partly".

Despite the war in Ukraine, 55 percent feel safe in Austria, while the security situation in Europe is assessed as significantly worse: only 20 percent rate it as "safe" or "rather safe". 47 percent assess the situation as uncertain, 31 percent are undecided.
A third (32 percent) each feel "threatened" or "not threatened" by the war in Ukraine, while 35 percent answer "sometimes sometimes". Women (36 percent) feel significantly more threatened than men (28 percent).

There is a high level of approval, at 60 percent , for the Austrian measures to deal with the crisis, such as approval of the sanctions and the delivery of protective equipment to Ukraine.

The attitude of Austrians to neutrality is unshakable: 83 percent are in favor of maintaining it, only 16 percent are against it.


Austria only spends 0.6% of its GDP on the military.

This is one of the lowest amounts of any country on the planet and our military is virtually bankrupt and its equipment is rusting and falling apart.

From the 15 fighter jets we have (the only ones), there are only 3-5 of them ready to fly and only 1 or 2 of them can start 24/7/365, because the others are needing repairs all the time ... :p

....only 61 percent of them?

What’s the point of an army that can’t fight off attacks?
 
....only 61 percent of them?

What’s the point of an army that can’t fight off attacks?

Until a few years ago (or weeks ago !), the presumption was that there would never be an attack on Austria by another country militarily, so the military was scaled back over decades - mainly to deal with natural disasters.

It is not comparable to the US at all, because the US is and was always likely to be attacked by Russia, China, Iran, North Korea etc. …
 
Back
Top Bottom