Austria Federal state

Reforms

While the way the country’s federal government operates remains the same, there have been several legislative changes relating to intermunicipal cooperation that were introduced in 2011.

The constitutional law to strengthen the powers of municipalities, an amendment of the federal constitutional law, was adopted by the parliament and went into effect in 2011. The law significantly enlarges the rights of municipalities to establish inter-municipal associations, even across Länder borders, primarily to increase service efficiency not only in their own competences, but also in transferred competences. It did not alter the country’s federal organisation and its three levels of government (municipalities, Länder and central state) in any way, but it introduced new elements facilitating the establishment of inter-municipal arrangements or the democratic election of their representatives.

This reform is part of a trend to reduce costs, resulting in a reorganization of local public services and a new way of managing local and regional authorities’ payrolls. This law on inter-municipal cooperation in fact has not reached its objective so far. Although the central state adopted the constitutional law as a basis for inter-municipal cooperation, six of the nine Länder have not implemented their application laws. Therefore, municipalities are still not free in choosing their ways of cooperation.

Although this reform had already been under discussion for several years, its implementation was accelerated as a result of the crisis and existing budget restrictions. Moreover, programmes aimed at encouraging local governments to modernise their services and to use forward thinking were also introduced.

Local self-government in Austria:

The principle of local and regional self-government is well-respected in Austria, mainly as a result of a protective legal framework and the way the federal structure is set up. The legislative changes are not detrimental to this principle, although the implementation of the aforementioned federal law is not applied in all the federal entities.

KEY REFORMS

• Adoption of a constitutional act to promote inter-municipal consortia (entered into force in 2011).
• Reorganisation of services and new human rights management practices at the local level.
• Public administration cost-cutting, innovation and modernisation programmes.