Part 47

Independence: 12 November 1918 (from Austro-Hungarian Empire)

National holiday: National Day, 26 October (1955)

Constitution: 1920; revised 1929 (reinstated 1 May 1945)

Legal system: civil law system with Roman law origin; judicial review of legislative acts by the Constitutional Court; separate administrative and civil/penal supreme courts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal; compulsory for presidential elections

Executive branch: chief of state: President Thomas KLESTIL (since 8 July 1992) was elected for a six-year term by popular vote; election last held 24 May 1992 (next to be held 1998); results of second ballot - Thomas KLESTIL 57%, Rudolf STREICHER 43% head of government: Chancellor Franz VRANITZKY (since 16 June 1986) was chosen by the president from the majority party in the National Council; Vice Chancellor Wolfgang SCHUESSEL (since 22 April 1995) was chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor cabinet: Council of Ministers was chosen by the president on the advice of the chancellor

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) Federal Council (Bundesrat): consists of 63 members representing each of the provinces on the basis of population, but with each province having at least three representatives National Council (Nationalrat): elections last held 17 December 1995 (next to be held Fall 1999); results - SPOE 38.3%, OEVP 28.3%, FPOE 22.1%, Greens 4.6%, LF 5.3%, other 1.4%; seats - (183 total) SPOE 71, OEVP 53, FPOE 40, Greens 9, LF 10

Judicial branch: Supreme Judicial Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) for civil and criminal cases; Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) for bureaucratic cases; Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof) for constitutional cases

Political parties and leaders: Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPOE), Franz VRANITZKY, chairman; Austrian People's Party (OEVP), Wolfgang SCHUESSEL, chairman; Freedom Movement (F, formerly the Freedom Party of Austria or FPOE), Joerg HAIDER, chairman; Communist Party (KPOE), Walter SILBERMAYER, chairman; The Greens, Madeleine PETROVIC; Liberal Forum (LF), Heide SCHMIDT

Other political or pressure groups: Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Austrian Trade Union Federation (primarily Socialist); three composite leagues of the Austrian People's Party (OEVP) representing business, labor, and farmers; OEVP-oriented League of Austrian Industrialists; Roman Catholic Church, including its chief lay organization, Catholic Action

International organization participation: AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, EBRD, ECE, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 9, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MINURSO, MTCR, NACC, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNAMIR, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIH, UNMOT, UNOMIG, UNTSO, UPU, WCL, WEU (observer), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: Ambassador Helmut TUERK chancery: 3524 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008-3035 telephone: (202) 895-6700 FAX: (202) 895-6750 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York

US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador Swanee G. HUNT chancery: Boltzmanngasse 16, A-1091, Vienna mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: (1) 313-39 FAX: (1) 310-0682

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red

Economy -------

Economic overview: Austria has a well-developed market economy with a sizable - but falling - proportion of nationalized industry, an extensive social system, and a high standard of living. Austria's economy is closely integrated with Germany and other EU members - Austria joined the EU on 1 January 1995. Since the early 1980s, the Austrian economy has experienced stable growth. Following a mild recession in 1993, Austria's economy - driven by strong exports, investment, and private consumption - expanded 2.7% in 1994 and about 2.4% in 1995. The slowdown in 1995 was largely due to an appreciation of the Austrian schilling and its negative effect on exports and tourism. EU membership has had a positive impact on foreign investment and has helped to lower inflation. Despite Austria's generally favorable economic prospects, the government faces a number of economic challenges, especially budget consolidation. Smaller than expected revenues and rising welfare payments caused the budget deficit to climb to 7.1% of GDP in 1995. Austria also faces a growing unemployment problem. Although low by European standards, Austria's unemployment rate has risen gradually during the 1990s as companies restructured to meet competition from the EU single market and Eastern Europe.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $152 billion (1995 est.)

GDP real growth rate: 2.4% (1995 est.)

GDP per capita: $19,000 (1995 est.)

GDP composition by sector: agriculture: 2% industry: 34% services: 64% (1994)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.3% (1995 est.)

Labor force: 3.47 million (1989) by occupation: services 56.4%, industry and crafts 35.4%, agriculture and forestry 8.1% note: an estimated 200,000 Austrians are employed in other European countries; foreign laborers in Austria number 177,840, about 5% of labor force (1988)

Unemployment rate: 4.6% (1995 est.)

Budget: revenues: $65 billion expenditures: $75.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1995 est.)

Industries: food, iron and steel, machines, textiles, chemicals, electrical, paper and pulp, tourism, mining, motor vehicles

Industrial production growth rate: 7.7% (first half 1995)

Electricity: capacity: 17,230,000 kW production: 50.2 billion kWh consumption per capita: 5,824 kWh (1993)

Agriculture: grains, fruit, potatoes, sugar beets; cattle, pigs, poultry; sawn wood