Austrian citizenship law is characterised by the desire to avoid dual citizenship or multiple citizenships wherever possible. In this context, Austrian citizenship law is thus one of the most restrictive legal systems in Europe. One of the legal measures to ensure this principle is the loss of citizenship upon acquisition of a foreign nationality.
§ 27. (1) Citizenship shall be lost by anyone who acquires a foreign nationality on the basis of his or her application, declaration or express consent, unless he or she has previously been granted permission to retain citizenship.
It it said that a Yugoslavian passport have been issued at the end of the 1990s for Peter Handke, the Austrian writer and Nobel Prize winner for Literature, in which he is allegedly referred to as a Yugoslavian citizen. The issuing of a passport does not constitute the granting of citizenship; however, most countries in the world grant passports only to their own citizens. Thus, the question arises whether Peter Handke has lost his Austrian citizenship by being granted Yugoslavian citizenship. In any case, he is not supposed to have applied for the authorisation to retain his citizenship, although the retention would probably have been in the interest of the Republic according to § 28 (1) no. 1 of the Citizenship Law on account of the services already rendered by him and those still to be expected of him, and would therefore have had to be authorised.
These and other questions in connection with the acquisition and loss of citizenship as well as dual citizenship are discussed with attorney-at-law Balazs Esztegar in an interview with ORF 2 for the programme "Studio 2".