Answer: The consequences would be more diverse than one would assume in the first place. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

• Austria would lose its reputation as a reliable partner in international scientific collaborations
• Full access to CERN and its resources is only granted to member states. Scientists of other nations can also perform research, but are less well off 
• No new contracts or extensions of existing contracts for Austrian CERN staff (presently 53)
• No training of diploma and PhD students at CERN (about 150 Austrian dissertations have been completed at CERN since 1995)
• No participation in political decisions in the CERN-Council
• No technological cooperation for the MedAustron cancer therapy center
• No contracts for Austrian industries (CERN spent about 73 Million Euros in Austria between 1994 and 2007)

Aswer: Several well-known Austrian companies signed large-scale contracts with CERN, ranging from classical industrial goods to pure services. Here are a few examples:

• Böhler Edelstahl, Kapfenberg: Stainless steel for supraconducting magnets (source)
• Kapsch Components, Vienna: Optoelectronic devices for the CMS experiment (CMS Gold Award 2007)
• ETM professional control, Eisenstadt: Software for process control ("Wir sind am CERN ganz massiv gewachsen")
• Uniqa Assurances, Geneva (100% owned by the Austrian Uniqa Group): Health insurance for approximately 12,000 CERN scientists (about 38 Millionen Euro permiums according to the 2005 business report)

Moreover, numerous Darüberhinaus profitieren auch viele small- and medium-sized companies benefit as subcontractors and by smaller-scale project driven orders.

Answer: The 20 member states fund CERN according to their population and economical strength. This results in about 2.2% or approximately 16 million Euros per year for Austria (source: CERN). Divided by the population of Austria, this means about one coffee per inhabitant and year.

These 16 million Euros represent 0.48% of this year's budget of the Ministry of Science and Research, which totals to 3.4 billion Euros, 15% more than 2008. In 2010, another 10% increase is designated (source: BMWF)

About half of the 16 million Euros are spent for staff (including 53 Austrians), the other half for goods. About 70% of the latter are returned to Austrian economy. Between 1994 and 2007, CERN spent 73 million Euros with Austrian industries.

Answer: HEPHY is the biggest, but by far not the only Austrian institute which cooperates with CERN:

• Insitute of High Energy Physics (HEPHY) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
• Stefan-Meyer-Institut für subatomare Physik (SMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
• Institut of Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology
• Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities, Vienna
• Institut of Theoretical Physics, University of Vienna
• Insitute of Astro- and Particle Physics, University of Innsbruck
• University of Applied Sciences, Wiener Neustadt
• MedAustron, Wiener Neustadt

Answer: 173 in total at present, split up into

• 85 academics of Austrian institutes who perform research at CERN
• 53 academics of CERN staff
• 35 academics of non-Austrian  institutes who perform research at CERN

The number of Austrians at CERN, related to the total population, is higher than that of Germany, Sweden or Portugal.

Answer: CERN is a huge community, and Austria represents less than 2% of the scientists. Nontheless there were Austrians in leading positions in the past and there are such at present as well. There were 16 persons in the position of Director General until now, and among those are two born Austrians:

• Victor Frederick Weisskopf (1961-1965)
• Willibald Karl Jentschke (1971-1975)
  

Even the president of the CERN Council was already Austrian once:

• Wolfgang Kummer (1985-1987)

Today there are also several Austrians in leading positions, such as

• Felicitas Pauss, Coordinator for External Relations of the CERN and nominated for the position of Director General in 2007
• Kurt Hübner, direktor of CERN Accelerators
• Michael Benedikt, deputy leader of the Beam Operations group
• Fritz Szoncso, group leader of CERN General Safety
• Werner Witzeling, technical coordinator of the LHCb Experiments
• Werner Riegler, deputy technical coordinator of the ALICE experiment

Answer: Less than 2% of all CERN scientists are Austrians. Consequently, one would not expect any particular significance of the Austrian contributions, yet the RECFA committee (Restricted European Committee for Future Accelerators) came to a different conclusion:

"...In summary, the committee was deeply impressed by the impact that Austria has made in particle physics, particularly at CERN, which is much larger than the relative small size of the community would suggest. This impact is a tribute to the leadership of the current generation..." (RECFA evaluation report 2004 to Mrs. Gehrer, Minister of Science at that time)

Answer: The 2% are Austria's financial contribution to the overall CERN budget. This contribution is based on Austria's population in relation to the total population of all CERN member states, and thus the number of 2% is not surprising at all. For the question whether Austria should quit CERN, this figure is factually irrelevant. It neither tells anything about Austria's role at CERN, nor about CERN's importance for Austria. For Austria, the question is whether to be a member or not - 100% or 0%. The various reasons for Austria to stay a member have been discussed in detail above.

 It is astounding to see how much Austria gets for just 2% financial contribution.