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Local Government in Autria

Local Government in Autria. Table of contents. 1. Local government system and decentralisation process 1.1. Institutional Organization 1.1.1 Central Government 1.1.2 Local Government 1.2. Distribution of Powers 1.3. Local Councillors’ Status 3.1 How to become a candidate

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Local Government in Autria

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  1. Local Government in Autria

  2. Table of contents • 1. Local government system and decentralisation process • 1.1. Institutional Organization 1.1.1 Central Government 1.1.2 Local Government • 1.2. Distribution of Powers • 1.3. Local Councillors’ Status 3.1 How to become a candidate 3.2 Local Councillors’ Duration of mandates and allowances 3.3 Rules about Incompatible Mandates • 1.4. Local government service and staff • 1.5. Local finance 5.1 Elaboration of the municipal budget 5.2 Local Government Resources • 2. Participative democracy • 2.1. Participative Democracy in Austrian law 1.1 Tools for Participative Democracy at the Federal Level 1.2 Tools for Participative Democracy at the Local Level

  3. Part 1 Local Government and Decentralisation Process

  4. 1. State structure • A federal state • 9 länder • 99 districts • 2359 towns (about 1000 joint ‘inter-communal’ bodies)

  5. 1.1 National institutionnal system The FederalPresident( Bundespräsident) directly elected by popular vote for six years Can engage procedures of revocation Appoints and revokes The Federal Assembly(Bundesversammlung) The Federal council (Bundesrat) 64 members elected by each Landtag in proportion to the size of population of the Land The National Council (Nationalrat) 183 directly elected members, for 4 years The Federal Government (Bundesregierung) Chancellor Vice-chancellor Ministers Responsible before Constitutional court (Verfassungsgerichthof) controls over acts and statutes Control: Administrative court (Verwaltungsgerichthof) administrative proceedings

  6. 1.2 Local institutionnal system Landtag Directly Elected Members, for 5 or 6 years Can be dissolved by the Federal President Head of Government Land Government Regional Government : 9 länder elects Right of control Meso Government : 99 districts District Councils Responsiblefor enacting Mayor Directly Elected or Elected by the Municipal Council. the executive body Municipal Councils Directly Elected MunicipalCommittees Decision-making power over financial, legal and economic matters Local Government : 2359 towns the legislative body

  7. 2. Distribution of Powers • A General Competence for Länder • Indirect Federal Administration System •  Two spheres of responibilities for towns: - own legal responsibilities - delegated responsibilities • Ambiguity of the concept of ‘local affairs’

  8. 3. Elected Councillors’ status 3.1 How to become a candidate • Aged 18 or 21 (depending on the rule of the Land) • An Austrian citizen or a national of a European Union member-state • A resident in the municipality • Not deprived of his/her civic rights • Never condemned to a custodial sentence of more than one year

  9. 3.2 Local councillors’ duration of mandates and allowances • A term of 5 to 6 years, according to the rule of the Länder • Compulsory attendance to all sessions • Revoked if 3 sessions are unattended • Working conditions are defined in the legislation of each Land • Financial allowance to compensate for the loss of revenue and to cover their expenses + Attendance fee.

  10. 3.3 Rules on Incompatible Mandates A local councillor cannot be also : • the Federal President of Austria • a member of the Public Petitions Committee • the head of a controlling administration • a judge at the Independent Federal Court for Asylum, at the Administrative High Court, at the Constitutional Court • an executive manager of a private company

  11. 4. Local Government Service and Staff • Art.21 (Federal Constitution): Länder’s own responsibility • Carreer system • 3 ways of recruiting staff: - tests - interview after an individual application - promotion after personal assessment when the candidate is a member of staff • 1979 Act of Parliament and following statutes • Two types of job: • - Permanent carreer • - Contracted position • - in December 2005: A proposed bill to abolish permanent jobs in public administration. The government suggests to unify the 2 types.

  12. 5. Local finance • 1948 Constitutional Act on public financesas abasis to establish the right to raise taxes and to share fiscal resources between the Federation, the Länder and the municipalities by means of laws of financial adjustment • The Federal Parliament must not impose on local authorities requirements exceeding their capacity

  13. 5.1 Elaboration of the municipal budget • 1. Proposed budget by the local authority’s administration to be presented to the various municipal bodies • 2. Decision made by the local council • 3. Budget submitted to controlling bodies (Länder) • 4. In cities over 20 000 inhabitants, budget control by the Federal Revenue Court

  14. 5.2 Resources of the municipalities • Shared fiscal resources:’profit-sharing’ system according to 2 criteria of redistribution: - demography - fiscal capacity • Own fiscal resources : list of the taxes established by the federal legislation or by the Land legislation (13) • Taxes:payment for the supply of the most important public services • Subsidies: granted by the higher tier authorities • Loans.

  15. Part 2Participative democracy

  16. Participative democracy in Austrian law • Federal level: the Constitution • Land level: case-law of the Constitutionnal Court • Local level: regulation issued by the Länder

  17. Tools for Participative Democracy at the federal level • Referendum • Popular consultation • Popular initiative • Social partnership

  18. Popular initiative • If it attracts over 100 000 signatures, the petition must be taken into consideration by the National Council • For the National Council, a political signal with few direct effects • A dedicated registration process • Right to ‘vote’ restricted to: - Austrian citizens aged 16 and more - Residents in a municipality of the Federal state • The initiators of the proposal must contribute to the costs (i.e. printing of the ballot papers).

  19. Registration process within the framework of popular initiative • Application at the Ministry of Interior (text of the petition, short description, reasons for it, names and signatures of the 4 people responsible for the conduct of the petition) • Text written as a bill or as a proposal, describing attracted supports • The Ministry of Interior must consider the implementation of all conditions within 3 weeks • If the ministry agrees the petition must registred within one week and passed on to the official journal of the state. 8 week period D+14 initiators select interested municipalities 1st day registration time D day: passed on to the official journal D+6 months: end of registration time

  20. Social partnership • A very special device • Interest-groups take part in the political decision-making, unofficially and confidentially • Social partners may also be involved officially : - participation to committees, consultative councils and commissions - participation to the reading of the bill • Example : Participation to the decision-making of Austria’s official positions about EU projects

  21. Tools for Local Participative Democracy At länder’ s level : Processes close to the national ones : • Regional referendum (for voting for, reform or abolition of an Act of Parliament, a decree or any governmental decision) • Popular initiative • Popular consultation about issues that deal with the Landtag’s responsibilities • Opinion poll • Right of expertise

  22. At local level: • Local referendum enacted in 7 Länder The process of referendum depends of the rule of each Land : - municipal council’s proposal (in 2 Länder) - written request (in 3 Länder) - mayor’s proposition (in 2 Länder) - popular initiative approved by the municipal council • Other types of local participation: 1. Observations presented to the municipal councilabout development plans, proposed constructions or budgetary process • 2. Popular proposals for adopting, reforming or abolishing any decree of administrative decision • 3.Opinion polls about municipal council’s initiatives - 4. Dedicated localgatherings to inform citizens and allow them to express their advice about municipal plans.

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