Austria’s government outlined a bill Nov. 11 to extend espionage protections beyond the country, covering the European Union and international organizations amid attention to intelligence activity in Vienna.
The government plans to raise the maximum prison term for espionage against Austria from five years to 10, Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said. The draft would also make spying against the EU or international organizations punishable by up to five years. Austria’s current law bars spying that harms the country and sets a five-year maximum, Reuters reported.
Reuters reported that Vienna is home to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and United Nations bodies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency. The concentration of diplomatic missions gives intelligence agents a chance to work under diplomatic immunity, Reuters reported. The bill would bring the EU and international organizations within espionage rules that currently focus on harm to Austria.
Meinl-Reisinger said diplomatic status should not shield spying in Austria. “We are no longer looking the other way,” she said. She also invoked “The Third Man,” a film set in postwar Vienna, in describing the city’s espionage image. Reuters reported that Allied occupation forces divided Vienna into sectors for about a decade after World War II, a period associated with that reputation.
Reuters reported that Austria expelled four Russian diplomats in October over actions described as incompatible with their diplomatic status, bringing the number expelled since 2020 to 18. Expelled diplomats in recent years had served at the Russian embassy to Austria and at Russian missions to the United Nations and OSCE, Reuters reported.
Meinl-Reisinger said the government will send the bill to Parliament after a review expected to last several weeks. EconoTimes previously reported on Austria’s proposed penalties and expanded espionage rules.
