Austria

Yearbook

    Basic Income in Austria: A Research Proposal
  • In the last decade the condition of Austria’s population and that of other EU member states has deteriorated, with increasingly unequal income distribution, a greater number of working poor and high levels of unemployment. Thus, it comes as no surprise that several groups (attac, and various...
    Book Review - Persecution: The Austrian §278a as an Example
  • It is not certain if the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001 were the kick-off for the rollercoaster ride the financial markets have been on ever since. This careening up- and downhill has triggered upheavals in the entire global economy and serves...
    Power in Paradise: The 2010 Vienna Elections
  • The Mercer 2010 Quality of Living Ranking shows that the Austrian capital of Vienna (population: 1.7 million) is the world’s best place to live. Critics remark that the criteria for this survey are chosen for the information of ex-pats and do not focus on the life of the average Viennese working...

Focus

    “Europa anders” Stands Up against the Assumption of Liabilities for Banks
  • For ten days Martin Ehrenhauser, front runner for “Europa anders” (Europe different), the Austrian electoral alliance of the Left, has been camped out in front of the Office of the Federal Chancellor in Vienna. The independent MEP and his fellow campaigners have been protesting against the bailout of the Hypo Alpe-Adria bank, which is set to cost € 18 bn.

Blog

    The Short Respite Is Over
  • There was a great sense of relief and much jubilation over the electoral victory of Alexander Van der Bellen, the Green candidate who was supported by a voters’ coalition that ranged from the centre to the Communist Party, and who defeated Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the right-wing radical political party.
    Departing Towards a New Left in Austria?
  • On 3 and 4 June, around 1000 people came together in Vienna for the “Aufbruch” (“departure”) conference, hoping to create a movement, that, however defined, could serve as a new umbrella of the Austrian left and as a challenge and alternative to the anti-social and right-leaning state of Austrian politics right now.
    Rejection of a Far-Right President
  • On Sunday 22 May, Austria elected its President in the second round. The results of the two candidates were so close that the election was decided when the voting cards were counted on Monday. The neoliberal, green, bourgeois and democratic candidate, Alexander Van der Bellen, won the second round of the elections with 50.3% against Freedom Party (FPÖ) candidate Norbert Hofer.
    The (Not So) Slow Murder of the Geneva Convention
  • The Reactionary Rebellion (read the essay by Walter Baier) is gaining steam in Austria and Germany and de-facto abolishing the Geneva convention on refugees, which sets a dangerous precedent for others in the region.
    Far-right Party Gains Almost One Third of the Vote
  • The Social Democrat Party was slightly weakened but not defeated. The far-right Freedom Party won almost one third of the vote, making it the city’s second most powerful party. The left-wing alliance saw a slight improvement in its results at ward level.
    Austria Voted Paradoxically
  • The outcome of the Austrian parliamentary elections must seem paradoxical all across Europe. Despite the – by comparison – favorable economic data, the ruling “Great Coalition” of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and Conservatives (ÖVP) was punished. Their share of the votes fell back from 55 percent to less than 51.