Gertrude Enderle-Burcel, Dieter Stiefel, Alice Teichova (Hrsg.): Sonderband 9. „Zarte Bande” – Österreich und die europäischen planwirtschaftlichen Länder / „Delicate Relationships” – Austria and Europe’s Planned Economies (2006)
Eduard Kubů: Restoration and Régularisation of Economie Cooperation under the Circumstances of Accelerating Cold War
Eduard Kubü western countries in such a way that it stated fairly high quotas for the export of strategic items even though it knew that it would not fulfil such quotas. This course of action was described as “politically incorrect” in 1952.66 However, the situation did not improve significantly even in the following years. In the next year, the real exchange only amounted to 56.5 percent of the agreed volume, according to a calculation by the Ministry of Foreign Trade.67 If we summarise our knowledge of Czechoslovak-Austrian economic relations under conditions of the developing cold war, we can say that even in this critical period of dramatic decline of economic relations between East and West, these relations retained their exclusiveness and meaningfulness. However, the basis of their continuation was narrowed to the sphere of foreign trade; the broader exchange of electric power only remained a wish. The restoration of Austrian sovereignty and the developments in the second half of the 1950’ies bringing the process of relaxation of international tensions were opening up new opportunities for economic cooperation and its intensification. 66 See footnote 51. 67 See footnote 55. 218
