The campaign, spearheaded by Inge Rauscher, needs to gather 100,000 signatures from June 24 until July 1 to be considered in the National Council, the lower house of Austria's parliament.
"We have no rights in the EU. The bloc is patronizing," Inge Rauscher explains, citing dictatorial ways and centralism as the main but not the only vices of the union.
"Farmers' troubles, damaged ecology, unemployment, rejection of neutrality – the European Union is to blame for all of that," she noted, as quoted by Austrian newspaper Kurier.
Rauscher is a seasoned fighter. She unsuccessfully tried to block Austria's entry to the EU in 1994. The country became a member the following year. The next attempt came in 2011 but she has never been as close to her dream as this year.
Additionally, Rauscher is convinced that Crimea's reunification with Russia was carried out in accordance with the international law. The move was "fully legitimate in the eyes of the international law and corresponds to the right for self-determination," she said.
The civic initiative is also against sanctions imposed on Moscow.
If Austria leaves the EU "the sanctions ('economic war') against Russia or any other country will be lifted. Additionally, Austrian Armed Forces will stop taking part in the NATO war-games. The relocation of military equipment through the territory of a supposedly neutral country will also end," the group said.
According to the Austrian Society for European Politics and Eurobarometer surveys, approximately 20-25 percent of Austrians support Austria's exit from the EU, while two thirds of the population want the country to remain in the union.