Gruber De Gasperi Agreement shaped South Tyrol autonomy

The Gruber De Gasperi Agreement, signed 80 years ago by Austria and Italy, laid the foundation for South Tyrol’s autonomy and the protection of its German-speaking population, ORF reported. Austrian Foreign Minister Karl Gruber and Italian Foreign Minister Alcide De Gasperi signed the agreement on September 5, 1946.

The agreement was intended to guarantee protection for the Austrian minority south of the Brenner. Following fascism and National Socialism, it established a foundation for the development of a flourishing region.

Concluded under pressure from the Western powers, the bilateral agreement became part of the Allies’ peace treaty with Italy. It also made South Tyrol an international issue for the first time.

At the Paris Peace Conference on May 1, 1946, Austria’s demand for a referendum in South Tyrol had been definitively rejected. The agreement instead granted measures to preserve the population’s character, equal status for the German language and autonomy.

At De Gasperi’s initiative, South Tyrol was combined with Trentino in a single region. The Italian-speaking population held the majority there. For the first time, specific protections for South Tyrol’s German-speaking population were guaranteed internationally, particularly in mother-tongue education, the use of language in public offices and the allocation of public positions.

Through the agreement, Italy indirectly recognised Austria as a contracting party in the South Tyrol issue. This recognition, along with the bilateral negotiations on the second autonomy statute, formed the basis for Austria’s continuing protective role for the region’s German- and Ladin-speaking populations. The agreement itself did not mention the Ladin population, which is now spread across the provinces of Bolzano, Trento and Belluno.

After Austria regained full sovereignty, it intervened in Rome for the first time in 1956. Italy rejected negotiations, arguing that the Paris Agreement had been implemented and that Austria had lost the right to intervene officially in the matter.

In 1960, Austrian Foreign Minister and later Chancellor Bruno Kreisky brought the South Tyrol issue before the United Nations. A resolution stated that autonomy should protect the population’s character and safeguard the cultural and economic development of South Tyroleans. It also confirmed that Austria had a right to participate in the issue. Italy nevertheless continued to refuse to grant South Tyrol autonomy.

Against the background of bomb attacks on Italian facilities in South Tyrol, Italy’s Council of Ministers established the so-called Nineteen Commission in 1961. It consisted of seven South Tyroleans, one Ladin and 11 Italians, and was tasked with submitting proposals to the government. After more than three years of work, the commission presented its findings to Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1964.

The second autonomy statute entered into force in 1972. It transferred most of the expanded autonomy provisions from the Trentino South Tyrol region to the two autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano, also known as South Tyrol. It took another 20 years for most of the agreed measures to be implemented by Rome. Austria and Italy formally ended their dispute over South Tyrol in 1992 with a declaration settling the conflict.

South Tyrol’s autonomy was expanded gradually in the following years. Measures included the establishment of an independent higher regional court in Bolzano and equal status for the German language in the police and courts. After Austria joined the European Union and the Schengen Agreement entered into force, the removal of border barriers at crossings to North and East Tyrol was celebrated.

Autonomy and autonomy policy remain central to political debate in South Tyrol, which the article describes as one of Europe’s most economically prosperous regions. The concept of “dynamic autonomy”, associated with former governor Luis Durnwalder, remains a key part of those debates.