The Nationalrat (National Council), the lower house of
parliament, exercises all of the powers usually associated with a
national legislature. It has the power to remove the entire
cabinet or individual members of it by a vote of no confidence.
All legislation and treaties must be approved by the Nationalrat.
Before a vote can take place, at least one-third of the
Nationalrat's members must be present. A simple majority suffices
for the passage of legislation. Sessions are public unless the
deputies determine otherwise.
Deputies elect a president and second and third presidents
from among their members to serve during the four-year
legislative term. Party leaders who are members of their party's
executive and of a parliamentary faction that serves as a liaison
between parliament and a political party are most likely to be
presidential candidates. The president and the third president
belong to the same party, usually the party holding the most
seats in the Nationalrat. The second president belongs to the
other major party. Presidential duties include nominating
employees of the Federal Chancellery, whose staff serves the
three presidents. The three presidents preside over plenary
sessions in two-hour shifts. They also join with the chairmen of
the parliamentary factions to form the Presidial Conference,
which directs the Nationalrat's activities and decides the time
and agenda of plenary sessions and, to a lesser extent, the time
and agenda of the committees. The Presidial Conference is one of
the rare groups not affected by the custom of proportional
representation. All parties holding seats in the Nationalrat are
represented on the conference.
In 1993 the Nationalrat contained roughly fifteen committees
in which legislative proposals are both prepared and examined and
the results of parliamentary investigations considered. Each
committee has various numbers of subcommittees assigned to deal
with specific kinds of legislation. In addition to the
committees, there are also the Main Committee and the Permanent
Subcommittee, the members of which are elected at the start of
each new legislative period. The Main Committee has
responsibility for overseeing aspects of the state-run industries
and for dispatching Austrian troops on international peacekeeping
missions. It also participates in deciding the date for
Nationalrat elections and setting rates for postal and telephone
services. The president of the Nationalrat serves as chairman of
the Main Committee. The Permanent Subcommittee plays a limited
role because its main function is to fulfill the duties of the
Main Committee in the case of the dissolution of the Nationalrat
by the president.
In addition to the work of the committees, another important
function of the Nationalrat is to question the government
regularly on its activities and legislative proposals. One device
frequently employed is an "interpellation," which summons for
questioning before the Nationalrat a particular cabinet minister
or government official. A minimum of twenty deputies is required
to set an interpellation in motion. Questioning a government
official is the prelude to a parliamentary debate on the issue.
A 1970 amendment to the election laws increased the number of
Nationalrat seats from 165 to 183. Seats in the Nationalrat are
divided among the country's nine provinces according to
population. Deputies serve a four-year term and are elected
according to constitutional and other federal laws. Candidates
must be at least twenty years old on January 1 of the election
year and must also be eligible to vote.
The Nationalrat has only one session per year, beginning no
earlier than September 15 and ending no later than July 15. An
extraordinary session of the Nationalrat can be convoked either
by order of the federal president, by request of the cabinet, or
by request of one-third of the deputies. Once a request has been
made, the extraordinary session must commence within two weeks.
After a parliamentary election, the newly elected Nationalrat
must be convened within thirty days.
The Nationalrat can be dissolved either by presidential
action or by itself. The president can dissolve the Nationalrat
at the chancellor's request, but he is limited to dismissing it
only once for the same reason. New elections must be held soon
enough to enable the new parliament to convene within 100 days of
the dissolution. The Nationalrat is empowered to dissolve itself
by a simple majority vote.
During the Second Republic, membership of the Nationalrat has
been heavily weighted toward men who come from white-collar
professions. Changes in the sociological profile of the deputies
have occurred slowly. The Nationalrat elected in November 1990
contained a record 22 percent of female deputies. Prior to this
election, female deputies had never accounted for more than 15
percent of the total number of deputies. The average age of the
deputies elected in 1990 was forty-six. Almost 40 percent of the
deputies elected in 1990 were university graduates, and 25
percent were employees of political parties, politically oriented
interest groups, or social welfare organizations.
The majority of legislative proposals originate in the
executive. Legislation occasionally starts in the Nationalrat,
but the close cooperation between the executive and the majority
party in parliament makes such initiation unnecessary most of the
time. During the Second Republic, governmental legislative
proposals have outnumbered Nationalrat initiatives by three to
one. Parliament's role in the legislative process is focused more
on bringing to public attention the background of the
government's legislative proposals and exposing any mistakes the
government may have made. Opposition parties have the right to
force the government to answer any questions about pending
legislation.
Before a bill is introduced in parliament, it has already
passed through an intensive process of examination. The
government solicits comments from the various interest groups
affected by the bill, especially the chambers of agriculture,
commerce, and labor
(see Principal Economic Interest Groups
, ch.
3). During this stage, a bill frequently is modified to meet the
objections of key interest groups and opposition parties in
parliament. Changes to legislative proposals may also be made
after a bill has been introduced in the Nationalrat, but the
majority of changes are made before the bill is introduced
officially. Bills are amended significantly by the parliament
only 10 to 15 percent of the time.
By West European standards, the percentage of bills passed
unanimously by the Austrian parliament is high. Unanimity
prevailed anywhere between 38 and 49 percent of the time during
the parliaments of the 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1980s and
early 1990s, with the advent of the Greens in parliament and the
increased power of the FPÖ, unanimity was on the decline.
As the complexity of the issues facing government has
increased, so too has the importance of committees to the
parliament's work. After a bill reaches the Nationalrat, it is
assigned to a committee and frequently also to a subcommittee.
Deputies typically spend twice as much time in committee hearings
as in plenary sessions. The subcommittees hold even more hours of
hearings than the full committees. Because of the unwieldy nature
of plenary sessions, 80 percent of changes to government
legislation occur in committee.
In 1975 the Nationalrat amended its procedures to give the
opposition and smaller parties a greater role in the legislative
process. Under the 1975 amendments, one-third of the deputies can
request the Constitutional Court to review a law for
constitutionality. Further, one-third of the deputies can request
the government's accounting agency to conduct an audit of a
government agency. These changes reflect the intensification of
political competition that occurred in the Nationalrat after the
long period of grand coalition governments between the two major
parties ended in 1966. The ÖVP, as the major opposition party
during the era of SPÖ rule (1970-83), led the drive for greater
rights for minority parties.
Background | | Once the center of power for the large Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria was reduced to a small republic after its defeat in World War I. Following annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938 and subsequent occupation by the victorious Allies in 1945, Austria's status remained unclear for a decade. A State Treaty signed in 1955 ended the occupation, recognized Austria's independence, and forbade unification with Germany. A constitutional law that same year declared the country's "perpetual neutrality" as a condition for Soviet military withdrawal. The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 and Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995 have altered the meaning of this neutrality. A prosperous, democratic country, Austria entered the EU Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. In January 2009, Austria assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2009-10 term.
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Location | | Central Europe, north of Italy and Slovenia
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Area(sq km) | | total: 83,871 sq km land: 82,445 sq km water: 1,426 sq km
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Geographic coordinates | | 47 20 N, 13 20 E
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Land boundaries(km) | | total: 2,562 km border countries: Czech Republic 362 km, Germany 784 km, Hungary 366 km, Italy 430 km, Liechtenstein 35 km, Slovakia 91 km, Slovenia 330 km, Switzerland 164 km
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Coastline(km) | | 0 km (landlocked)
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Climate | | temperate; continental, cloudy; cold winters with frequent rain and some snow in lowlands and snow in mountains; moderate summers with occasional showers
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Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Neusiedler See 115 m highest point: Grossglockner 3,798 m
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Natural resources | | oil, coal, lignite, timber, iron ore, copper, zinc, antimony, magnesite, tungsten, graphite, salt, hydropower
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Land use(%) | | arable land: 16.59% permanent crops: 0.85% other: 82.56% (2005)
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Irrigated land(sq km) | | 40 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 84 cu km (2005)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 3.67 cu km/yr (35%/64%/1%) per capita: 448 cu m/yr (1999)
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Natural hazards | | landslides; avalanches; earthquakes
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Environment - current issues | | some forest degradation caused by air and soil pollution; soil pollution results from the use of agricultural chemicals; air pollution results from emissions by coal- and oil-fired power stations and industrial plants and from trucks transiting Austria between northern and southern Europe
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Environment - international agreements | | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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Geography - note | | landlocked; strategic location at the crossroads of central Europe with many easily traversable Alpine passes and valleys; major river is the Danube; population is concentrated on eastern lowlands because of steep slopes, poor soils, and low temperatures elsewhere
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Population | | 8,210,281 (July 2009 est.)
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Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 14.5% (male 609,748/female 581,144) 15-64 years: 67.5% (male 2,785,091/female 2,756,402) 65 years and over: 18% (male 612,613/female 865,283) (2009 est.)
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Median age(years) | | total: 42.2 years male: 41.1 years female: 43.2 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate(%) | | 0.052% (2009 est.)
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Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 8.65 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 9.98 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
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Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | 1.85 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
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Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 67% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: 0.7% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
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Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 4.42 deaths/1,000 live births male: 5.39 deaths/1,000 live births female: 3.41 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 79.5 years male: 76.6 years female: 82.56 years (2009 est.)
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Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 1.39 children born/woman (2009 est.)
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Nationality | | noun: Austrian(s) adjective: Austrian
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Ethnic groups(%) | | Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croatians, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4% (2001 census)
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Religions(%) | | Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12% (2001 census)
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Languages(%) | | German (official nationwide) 88.6%, Turkish 2.3%, Serbian 2.2%, Croatian (official in Burgenland) 1.6%, other (includes Slovene, official in Carinthia, and Hungarian, official in Burgenland) 5.3% (2001 census)
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Country name | | conventional long form: Republic of Austria conventional short form: Austria local long form: Republik Oesterreich local short form: Oesterreich
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Government type | | federal republic
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Capital | | name: Vienna geographic coordinates: 48 12 N, 16 22 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
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Administrative divisions | | 9 states (Bundeslaender, singular - Bundesland); Burgenland, Kaernten (Carinthia), Niederoesterreich (Lower Austria), Oberoesterreich (Upper Austria), Salzburg, Steiermark (Styria), Tirol (Tyrol), Vorarlberg, Wien (Vienna)
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Constitution | | 1920; revised 1929; reinstated 1 May 1945; note - during the period 1 May 1934-1 May 1945 there was a fascist (corporative) constitution in place
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Legal system | | civil law system with Roman law origin; judicial review of legislative acts by the Constitutional Court; separate administrative and civil/penal supreme courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
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Suffrage | | 16 years of age; universal; note - reduced from 18 years of age in 2007
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Executive branch | | chief of state: President Heinz FISCHER (SPOe) (since 8 July 2004) head of government: Chancellor Werner FAYMANN (SPOe) (since 2 December 2008); Vice Chancellor Josef PROELL (OeVP) (since 2 December 2008) cabinet: Council of Ministers chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor elections: president elected by direct popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term); presidential election last held 25 April 2004 (next to be held in April 2010); chancellor formally chosen by the president but determined by the coalition parties forming a parliamentary majority; vice chancellor chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor election results: Heinz FISCHER elected president; percent of vote - Heinz FISCHER 52.4%, Benita FERRERO-WALDNER 47.6% note: government coalition - SPOe and OeVP
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Legislative branch | | bicameral Federal Assembly or Bundesversammlung consists of Federal Council or Bundesrat (62 seats; members chosen by state parliaments with each state receiving 3 to 12 members in proportion to its population; members serve five- or six-year terms) and the National Council or Nationalrat (183 seats; members elected by direct popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: National Council - last held 28 September 2008 (next to be held by September 2013) election results: National Council - percent of vote by party - SPOe 29.3%, OeVP 26%, FPOe 17.5%, BZOe 10.7%, Greens 10.4%, other 6.1%; seats by party - SPOe 57, OeVP 51, FPOe 34, BZOe 21, Greens 20
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Judicial branch | | Supreme Judicial Court or Oberster Gerichtshof; Administrative Court or Verwaltungsgerichtshof; Constitutional Court or Verfassungsgerichtshof
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Political pressure groups and leaders | | Austrian Trade Union Federation or OeGB (nominally independent but primarily Social Democratic); Federal Economic Chamber; OeVP-oriented Association of Austrian Industrialists or IV; Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay organization, Catholic Action other: three composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party or OeVP representing business, labor, farmers, and other nongovernment organizations in the areas of environment and human rights
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International organization participation | | ACCT (observer), ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G-9, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, Schengen Convention, SECI (observer), UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU (observer), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
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Flag description | | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red; the flag design is certainly one of the oldest - if not the oldest - national banners in the world; according to tradition, following a fierce battle in the Third Crusade, Duke Leopold V of Austria's white tunic became completely blood-spattered; upon removal of his wide belt or sash, a white band was revealed; the red-white-red color combination was subsequently adopted as his banner
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Economy - overview | | Austria, with its well-developed market economy and high standard of living, is closely tied to other EU economies, especially Germany's. Its economy features a large service sector, a sound industrial sector, and a small, but highly developed agricultural sector. Following several years of solid foreign demand for Austrian exports and record employment growth, the global economic downturn in 2008 led to a recession that is likely to persist through 2009. The government's stabilization measures could increase the budget deficit to about 2.8% of GDP in 2009 and above 3% in 2010, from about 0.6% in 2008. The Austrian economy has benefited greatly in the past from strong commercial relations, especially in the banking and insurance sectors, with central, eastern, and southeastern Europe, but these sectors have been vulnerable to recent international financial instabilities, and some of Austria's largest banks have required government support. Even after the global economic outlook improves, Austria will need to continue restructuring, emphasizing knowledge-based sectors of the economy, and encouraging greater labor flexibility and greater labor participation to offset its aging population and exceedingly low fertility rate.
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GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $331.2 billion (2008 est.) $324.7 billion (2007 est.) $313.7 billion (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP (official exchange rate) | | $414.8 billion (2008 est.)
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GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 2% (2008 est.) 3.5% (2007 est.) 3.5% (2006 est.)
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GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $40,400 (2008 est.) $39,600 (2007 est.) $38,300 (2006 est.) note: data are in 2008 US dollars
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GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 1.9% industry: 30.7% services: 67.4% (2008 est.)
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Labor force | | 3.633 million (2008 est.)
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Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 5.5% industry: 27.5% services: 67% (2005 est.)
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Unemployment rate(%) | | 3.9% (2008 est.) 4.4% (2007 est.)
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Population below poverty line(%) | | 5.9% (2004)
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Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 3.3% highest 10%: 22.5% (2004)
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Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 26 (2007) 31 (1995)
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Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 22.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
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Budget | | revenues: $196.4 billion expenditures: $200.7 billion (2008 est.)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 3.2% (2008 est.) 2.2% (2007 est.)
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Stock of domestic credit | | $606.2 billion (31 December 2008) $504.8 billion (31 December 2007)
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Market value of publicly traded shares | | $NA (31 December 2008) $228.7 billion (31 December 2007) $191.3 billion (31 December 2006)
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Public debt(% of GDP) | | 62.6% of GDP (2008 est.) 64.2% of GDP (2004 est.)
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Agriculture - products | | grains, potatoes, sugar beets, wine, fruit; dairy products, cattle, pigs, poultry; lumber
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Industries | | construction, machinery, vehicles and parts, food, metals, chemicals, lumber and wood processing, paper and paperboard, communications equipment, tourism
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Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 2.4% (2008 est.)
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Current account balance | | $14.27 billion (2008 est.) $12.03 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports | | $179.1 billion (2008 est.) $162.1 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports - commodities(%) | | machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs
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Exports - partners(%) | | Germany 29.5%, Italy 8.6%, US 4.3%, Switzerland 4.2% (2008)
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Imports | | $179.2 billion (2008 est.) $160.3 billion (2007 est.)
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Imports - commodities(%) | | machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products; foodstuffs
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Imports - partners(%) | | Germany 44.5%, Italy 7.1%, Switzerland 5.2%, Netherlands 4.1% (2008)
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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $16.7 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $18.22 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Debt - external | | $832.8 billion (31 December 2008) $801.4 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $261.9 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $247.9 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $270 billion (31 December 2008 est.) $240.9 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Exchange rates | | euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.6827 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004)
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Currency (code) | | euro (EUR)
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Telephones - main lines in use | | 3.285 million (2008)
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Telephones - mobile cellular | | 10.816 million (2008)
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Telephone system | | general assessment: highly developed and efficient domestic: fixed-line subscribership has been in decline since the mid-1990s with mobile-cellular subscribership eclipsing it by the late 1990s; the fiber-optic net is very extensive; all telephone applications and Internet services are available international: country code - 43; satellite earth stations - 15; in addition, there are about 600 VSATs (very small aperture terminals) (2007)
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Internet country code | | .at
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Internet users | | 5.937 million (2008)
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Airports | | 55 (2009)
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Pipelines(km) | | gas 2,721 km; oil 663 km; refined products 157 km (2008)
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Roadways(km) | | total: 107,262 km paved: 107,262 km (includes 1,677 km of expressways) (2006)
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Ports and terminals | | Enns, Krems, Linz, Vienna
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Military branches | | Land Forces (KdoLdSK), Air Forces (KdoLuSK)
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Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 18-35 years of age for compulsory military service; 16 years of age for male or female voluntary service; service obligation 6 months of training, followed by an 8-year reserve obligation; conscripts cannot be deployed in military operations outside Austria (2009)
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Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,986,411 females age 16-49: 1,944,834 (2008 est.)
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Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,607,456 females age 16-49: 1,576,335 (2009 est.)
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Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 50,540 female: 48,042 (2009 est.)
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Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 0.9% of GDP (2005 est.)
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Disputes - international | | while threats of international legal action never materialized in 2007, 915,220 Austrians, with the support of the newly elected Freedom Party, signed a petition in January 2008, demanding that Austria block the Czech Republic's accession to the EU unless Prague closed its nuclear power plant in Temelin, bordering Austria
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Electricity - production(kWh) | | 58.64 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 29.3% hydro: 67.2% nuclear: 0% other: 3.5% (2001)
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Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 61.89 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 14.93 billion kWh (2008 est.)
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Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 19.8 billion kWh (2008 est.)
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Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 24,850 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 285,400 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 45,580 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 305,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
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Economic aid - donor | | ODA, $1.498 billion (2006)
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Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 50 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
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Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 1.532 billion cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 8.65 billion cu m (2008 est.)
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Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 2.788 billion cu m (2008)
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Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 16.14 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | 0.2% (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 9,800 (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths | | fewer than 100 (2003 est.)
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Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98% male: NA female: NA
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School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years) | | total: 15 years male: 15 years female: 16 years (2006)
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Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 5.4% of GDP (2005)
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