Between Europeanization, Unitarism and Autonomy. Remarks on the Current Situation of Federalism in Austria

The following article describes current challenges of Austrian federalism. On ground of the Federal Constitution from 1920 Austria is a federation with nine autonomous Länder. Federalism is one of the basic principles of the constitution. Nevertheless the Länder are faced with centralizing drive due to Europeanization and unitarism. On the other hand the Länder have a strong regional identity. The Länder are emotionally deeply rooted in the Austrian population. The Länder also participate well in the decision making process on European level. Nevertheless the division of competencies both in legislation and administration between Federation and Länder is complicated and needs to be modernised. In the past various reform projects on federal level had failed while various reforms in the Land constitutions have led to more innovation on Land level. Despite these facts paradigms of reform debates on Austria´s federal system have changed: Until the early nineties of 20th century constitutional reforms aimed to strengthen the role of the Länder. Since Austria´s accession to the EU reform projects the efficiency of the federal structures of Austria are doubted. Economical and financial crisis probably will increase the pressure for structural reforms.