|
Austria lies at the heart of Europe, and has historically been an important commercial and cultural crossroads. The fall of the Warsaw Pact and the subsequent changes in Europe mean it has once again been able to work and trade with all its neighbours. Just over eight million people occupy nearly 84,000 square kilometers, which range from the Alps in the west to the Pannonian plain on Austria's eastern border. Vienna, the capital, is home to 1.5 million people, nearly one-fifth of the population. Though 98% German-speaking, Austria's Habsburgian past is reflected in its six national minority groups (groups who have been resident in Austria for more than three generations) - Slovenes, Croats, Czechs, Poles, Hungarians and Roma. 12.5% of Austrian residents were born outside Austria; the largest immigrant groups are from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey. Post-war stability in neutral Austria was maintained by a system of social partnership, with government, employers and trade unions working in a consensual way. Governments from 1945 to the present day have been for the most part coalitions between the two dominant political parties, the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), though the last two governments have been coalitions between the ÖVP and the populist right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ). Austria also has an active Green Party. However, the changes in Europe and Austria's own entry into the European Union have changed how the country functions, both domestically and on the world stage. State restructuring, essential to the health of the economy, has altered how social partners work together. Austria's magnificent natural heritage is one of the reasons behind the heightened environmental awareness of Austrians. Austria has the highest proportion of organic farmland in the EU. Austrians rejected nuclear power as an energy source in a referendum in 1978; the country actively supports research and development of alternate forms of energy, such as biomass and wind power. Austria is a federal republic; executive authority is divided between nine provinces and the federal bodies in Vienna. The Head of State is the federal President, who is elected by direct popular vote for a term of six years, renewable once. The current incumbent, President Heinz Fischer, was elected in April 2004. The President represents Austria internationally, convokes and prorogues Parliament and appoints the federal chancellor (usually, though not always, the leader of the strongest party). The President is also commander-in-chief of the Austrian armed forces. The federal government is headed by the Chancellor, currently Wolfgang Schüssel; the Chancellor puts forward a proposed government to the President for approval. Apart from the period 1966-83, post-war governments in Austria have always been coalitions between parties. Federal legislation is enacted by the Nationalrat, the lower house, in conjunction with the Bundesrat, the upper house. The 183 members of the Nationalrat are elected by the people on the basis of proportional representation every four years. Federal legislative power lies exclusively with the Nationalrat, from which the Chancellor and the government are drawn and through which their powers are monitored. Alongside the Nationalrat is the Bundesrat, the upper house, representing the provinces. Each province sends between three and twelve representatives to the Bundesrat, relative to population. The (currently) 62 members of the Bundesrat are elected by their Provincial Diets rather than by popular vote. The Bundesrat has limited powers - it may raise an objection against bills passed in the Nationalrat (excluding certain matters), but even that can be overruled by the Nationalrat with an increased quorum of MPs. Only modifications of the Federal Constitution regarding the Bundesrat itself, or constitutional laws or provisions which restrict the competence of the provinces, are subject to its consent. The Provincial Governors, with important powers of their own, are entitled to attend all negotiations conducted by the Bundesrat. The 24 November 2002 election in Austria resulted in a major victory for the People's Party (ÖVP) and its leader, Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. For the first time in 36 years, the ÖVP came in first in a general election. The ÖVP's 42.3% of the vote (up from 26.9% in 1999) and its clear margin of 5.8 percentage points over the Social Democrats (SPÖ) at 36.5%, gave it the right to seek to form the new government. The right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) lost 60% of its former support, falling to 10% of the popular vote, while the Greens increased to 9.47% (the highest national score for a Green Party in Europe). The 183 seats in the Nationalrat are currently distributed as follows : ÖVP - 79, SPÖ - 69, FPÖ - 18 and the Greens - 17. The ÖVP and FPÖ agreed on 28 February 2003 to renew their coalition after three months of negotiations and the collapse of talks between the ÖVP and both the SPÖ and the Greens. The coalition has embarked on an ambitious reform plan. Since its own accession to the European Union in 1995, Europe has been at the heart of Austrian foreign policy. The Austrian government has in general strongly supported the process of EU enlargement, despite some tensions over bilateral irritants with some of its Central European neighbours. Economically, Austria has been in the forefront of investment and trade with these emerging economies, which are in many ways its natural trading partners. Austria is also a strong supporter of efforts to adapt European institutions to the Union's new realities. A strong Common Foreign and Security Policy is a particular objective for Austria, which would like to see more qualified majority voting in this area where significant consensus is hard to achieve. Under its constitution Austria is a neutral state, but it is generally open to closer security and defence cooperation with its European partners. It is also a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace. Austria is committed to multilateralism; Vienna is the third UN city and the headquarters of the OSCE. Austria is, together with Canada, an active participant in the Human Security Network, which was chaired by Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner in 2002-2003. It is well-represented at the Council of Europe: the President of the Parliamentary Assembly Peter Schieder and the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, Dr Herwig van Staa (Governor of Tyrol) are both Austrian. The Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe is former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Erhard Busek. With a total GDP of 235.1 billion euros in 2004 and a GDP per capita amounting to 28,880 euros (+3.7% as compared to the previous year), Austria is the third richest country within the EU, behind Luxemburg and Ireland. With a small domestic market of only 8.14 million people, Austria relies heavily on SME-produced exports to sustain growth. Largely as a result of its own accession to the EU in 1995 and the opening up of former communist countries, Austrian exports of goods rose to almost 38% of GDP in 2004 (EU average: 28.6%), up from 24% in the mid-1990s. Including services, the Austrian export quota reached 51% in 2004. Austria's GDP growth rate was 2.0%, i.e. clearly higher than in 2003 (0.7%) but slightly below the EU average (2.2%). For 2005, the growth rate is estimated to slow down to 1.8% to 1.9%. Exports underwent a particularly positive development in 2004, rising by 13% from 78,903 to 89,131 billion euros (especially machines and vehicles). Imports increased by 10.4% from 80,993 to 89,421 billion euros. This resulted in a surplus (0.3% of GDP) in the Austrian balance of payments for only the second time in the last 14 years. In 2004, Austria had a trade balance deficit amounting to about 0.3 billion euros (2003: 2.1 billion euros). Approximately two thirds of Austria's foreign trade was with EU member countries, with Germany being Austria's most important trade partner. Of particular note in 2004 was the growth in exports to the U.S. market, which now accounts for 6% of Austrian outflows, behind only the German market and Italy. After two years of decreasing inflation in 2002 (1.8%) and 2003 (1.3%), the Austrian inflation rate increased to 2.1% in 2004, which was mainly due to high mineral oil prices (+9.4%) and more expensive rents (+3.6%). The unemployment rate increased slightly from 4.3% in 2003 to 4.5% in 2004. Austria had thus the second lowest unemployment rate within the EU in 2004, behind Luxemburg and together with Ireland. In total, 243,880 persons were unemployed in 2004, among them 103,618 women and 40,394 foreigners. Austria is the EU's number one generator of hydro-electric power and has a highly diversified manufacturing sector. However, the most significant rate of increase in outward FDI in the 1990s was to central and eastern Europe. In 1990 the region accounted for just 12% of all Austrian investment, but it increased its share to 29% by 1999 and to more than 30% (or approx. 15 billion euros) in 2004. This development was further increased by the EU's expansion in 2004: Austria's exports to the new EU member states rose by 13.5%, imports from this region increased by 14.3%. Austria is currently the largest foreign investor in Slovenia and Croatia and the third largest in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In terms of investment flows, Austria's stock of investment abroad now matches the amount that foreign investors own in Austria, in both cases around 52 billion euros. Austrian Government sites: Republic of Austria
Austrian Chancellor's Office (mostly in German)
Austrian Parliament
Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Austrian Embassy in Ottawa
European Commission in Austria (in German) Austrian Political Parties: Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)
Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) (in German)
Freedom Party (in German)
The Greens (in German) Provinces (sites in German unless otherwise indicated): Burgenland
Carinthia
Lower Austria (in English)
Salzburg (in English)
Styria (in English)
Tyrol
Upper Austria (in English)
Vienna (in English)
Vorarlberg Information on Austria: AEIOU - an encyclopedia of Austria
The Austrian Institute of Economic Research
Statistics Austria
|
Printable Version
Email This Page