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Basic principles of the constitution. All laws and their enforcement are based on the constitution. Austria is a democratic Republic and a Federal State built on three basic principles: The democratic principle. Article 1: Austria is a democratic republic. Its law emanates from the people. The federal principle.
- General Considerations
- The Four Different Competence Situations in Accordance with Art. 10–15 B-VG
- Interpretation of Competences
- Legislation and Further Competences in The Federal State
Austria has been constituted as a Federal Republic mainly as a result of a political compromise between the socialist forces preferring a unitary state and the conservatives opting for pronounced federalism, as the Republic of Austria is a country with a capital, Vienna, with a prevailingly socialist or socialdemocratic orientation and a prevailing...
In general, on the basis of the articles 10–15 B-VG four different competence situations for legislation and execution can be distinguished: 1. 1. Federal competence both for legislation and execution (Art. 10 B-VG) Art. 10 B-VG enlists a large number of important competences and gives proof of the fact that there is a clear preeminence of the fede...
In order to preserve the federal order (an, in particular, to protect the competences of the countries, limited as they are, from erosion by the ordinary legislator), the Austrian constitutional jurisprudence has developed the “petrification rule” (“Versteinerungsgrundsatz”) according to which competences have to be interpreted in the sense applica...
General Remarks
For the parliament, the Austrian constitution opted for a two-chamber system, with a “National Council” (“Nationalrat”) and a “Federal Council” (“Bundesrat”) representing the regional elements. The National Council, composed of 183 deputies elected directly by the electorate, is the more important, more powerful body in respect to the Federal Council presently composed of 61 members delegated by the countries. The two-chamber system is discussed in many countries where it still applies (Class...
The National Council
The National Council is elected every five years by all Austrian citizens with a minimum age of 16, while all Austrian citizens with a minimum age of 18 can stand as candidates. In international comparison, in Austria the threshold for the right to vote is therefore set at a rather low level. Only in case of convictions by final judgment for major offences the right to vote is excluded. There is no obligation to vote. The 183 seats in the National Council are attributed on the basis of the pr...
The Federal Council
Members of the Federal Council are not elected directly by the electorate but by the country parliaments. The number of deputies one country assembly can elect for the Federal Council depends on the size of its population and goes from a minimum of 3 to presently a maximum of 12. The competences of the Federal Council in the legislative process are far more limited than those of the National Council. As a principle, this chamber can only delay the legislative process by a “suspensive veto” (“...
- peter.hilpold@uibk.ac.at
The Federal Constitutional Law (German: Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz, abbreviated B-VG) is a federal constitutional law in Austria serving as the centerpiece of the Constitution. It establishes Austria as a democratic federal parliamentary republic .
The Austrian constitution provides for popular initiatives (Volksbegehren), by which 200,000 vote-eligible citizens or half the populations of three states can petition parliament for approval of any bill; it also can be initiated by a majority of the National Council.
Oct 1, 2020 · October 1, 2020. Posted by: Jenny Gesley. Share this post: Unlike most countries, Austria does not have just one constitutional document, like the Constitution of the United States for example, but several documents that have constitutional status.
Austria's Constitution of 1920, Reinstated in 1945, with Amendments through 2013
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The March Constitution, also called Imposed March Constitution or Stadion Constitution (German: Oktroyierte Märzverfassung or Oktroyierte Stadionverfassung, Hungarian: olmützi alkotmány or oktrojált alkotmány), was a constitution of the Austrian Empire promulgated by Minister of the Interior Count Stadion between 4 March and 7 March 1849.
