Relationship dossier
Austria
Czech Republic
Relationship assessment
Durable cooperation alongside recurring disputes over energy and historical issues
Austria toward Czech Republic
+20Austria has engaged in bilateral and cross-border cooperation with the Czech Republic and participated in the 1997 Austrian-Czech declaration addressing their shared history. Austrian opposition to the Temelín nuclear plant has also been a recurring source of friction.
Czech Republic toward Austria
+20The Czech Republic has participated with Austria in bilateral and cross-border cooperation and in the 1997 declaration addressing their shared history. The Temelín nuclear plant and disputes over the Beneš decrees have at times strained Czech-Austrian relations.
Overall relationship
+25The relationship combines sustained bilateral and cross-border cooperation with recurring disagreements over Temelín and historical issues. The 1997 declaration and shared EU membership underpin a cooperative relationship, while periodic disputes prevent it from being an unqualified partnership.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Austria and the Czech Republic maintain cooperative bilateral and cross-border relations, including through Central European cooperation and shared participation in the European Union. Relations have also included disputes over the Temelín nuclear power plant and historical questions surrounding the postwar Beneš decrees. Cooperation is durable, though these issues have periodically strained ties.
Areas of tension
- Austria's opposition to the Temelín nuclear power plant
- Disputes concerning the postwar Beneš decrees and their consequences
Key developments
Austria and the Czech Republic adopted a declaration addressing their shared history and relations.
The Czech Republic joined the European Union, bringing it into the same institutional framework as Austria.
Major uncertainties
- The current scope and implementation of bilateral cross-border cooperation are unclear.
- The extent to which historical disputes continue to shape government policy is uncertain.