Why are Austria and Switzerland not a part of NATO?

When the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact collapsed, five European states – Austria, Sweden, Finland, Ireland and Switzerland – decided, each for their own ... for Peace (PfP) programme made it possible for each of these five countries to cooperate with the Alliance on their own terms while not becoming a member. read more

Yet even Sweden is now openly contemplating the abandonment of its formal position of neutrality, suggesting that their stated perception of the modern Federation threat is causing a re-evaluation of that long-held position; since Austria & Switzerland now have plenty of “NATO buffer states” between their nations and the Federation, unlike Sweden and Finland, then I would expect their likelihood of maintaining neutrality to be greater. read more

Since the Second World War, whereas Austria was part of the Third Reich/Greater German Reich the nation wants to stay neutral, which won't be guaranteed if they were part of NATO.But Austria is criticised for working together with NATO and hence, for actually not being objective. read more

Sweden, Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland and Malta are the only EU states which are not also NATO members. Historically, Sweden stayed out of NATO in solidarity with her neighbor Finland, who stayed out in order not to antagonize Russia. read more