Under the Paris Agreement of 1946 (also known as the Gruber – Degasperi Agreement) and the South Tyrol Package of 1969, Austria is mandated with exercising a protective function vis-à-vis Italy for the Austrian and Ladin minorities in South Tyrol. The goal is to secure the continued ethnic, cultural, social and economic existence of the German and Ladin-speaking population of South Tyrol. Besides, much importance is attached to the peaceful co-habitation of the different linguistic groups in the Province of Bolzano. After the First World War, South Tyrol, which as an integral part of Tyrol had belonged to Austria for centuries, was ceded to Italy under the Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919). The years between the two World Wars were then characterised by the oppression of the German-speaking population, who were deprived of their rights under the Fascist regime.
After all efforts aimed at re-integrating this area had remained unsuccessful, Austria tried to achieve the highest possible degree of autonomy for South Tyrol after the Second World War in direct negotiations with Italy within the framework of the Paris Peace Conference. These negotiations eventually resulted in the Paris Agreement of 1946, which forms part of the peace treaty with Italy. However, the realisation of the autonomy Italy had committed itself to grant was long in coming. In contrast to the spirit of the agreement, Italy granted autonomy rights not to South Tyrol alone, but to a region extended by the Trentino, in which the German-speaking population was in the minority.
After unsuccessful efforts at the diplomatic level, Austria submitted in 1960 the problem of South Tyrol to the UN General Assembly, which then adopted two resolutions calling upon Austria and Italy to engage in the relevant negotiations. Finally, in 1969 these resulted in a comprehensive model for a resolution which was met with approval by both the South Tyroleans and the Austrians. It consisted of the so-called "South Tyrol Package", which contained all the measures Italy was to take for the benefit of the German-speaking ethnic group in South Tyrol, and a "calendar of operations", which was a time-table for the implementation of the measures outlined in the package and subsequently for the settlement of the dispute with Austria. Another prime goal of the package consisted in guaranteeing a substantial autonomy for the province of Bolzano by limiting the boundaries of the region.
The realisation of the measures provided for in the package dragged on longer than envisaged: the last actions were only implemented in 1992. After the implementation of the package had been examined by the South Tyroleans and the Austrian federal government, both the SVP (the South Tyrolean People’s Party), as the party representing the majority of the German-speaking ethnic group in South Tyrol, and the Austrian parliament agreed to the settlement of the dispute with Italy. The handing over of identical declarations by Austria and Italy to the UN Secretary-General in June 1992 marked the official settlement of the dispute on the implementation of the Paris Agreement. But Austria still remains the protective power of South Tyrol and in this capacity continues to keep an eye on the ongoing implementation of the autonomy agreement.
Apart from the advantages gained from autonomy itself, the functioning of which today, more than twenty years after the completion of the package and the settlement of the dispute in 1992, is functioning to the satisfaction of all concerned, the German-speaking ethnic group in Italy has benefited greatly from the dynamism of the European integration process: upon Austria’s accession to the European Union at the beginning of 1995 the political framework conditions improved decisively for South Tyrol, the Schengen Agreement subsequently pushed the separating aspects of the national border largely into the background and, finally, the introduction of a common currency contributed substantially to the dismantling of economic and financial barriers.
As "European region of Tyrol - South Tyrol -Trentino", the three regions have been cooperating intensively in a number of areas, including business, transport and communication, research, culture, education, the environment and tourism. In 2011 a European grouping of territorial cooperation (as foreseen by Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006) was established by the three regions. Austria strongly supports this type of cross-border cooperation between regional authorities.
Austria is convinced that there is a direct inter-relation between the beneficial development of the German-speaking ethnic group in South Tyrol and close, friendly ties between Austria and Italy, and therefore devotes particular attention to maintaining these relations.