Exploring Public Lands In Austria: Who Owns The Great Outdoors?

Austria is a landlocked country in Central Europe, with a rich agricultural history and a diverse landscape. It is divided into nine federal states, including Vienna, its capital and most populous city. While Austria has a strong tradition of small-scale farming, recent decades have seen a shift towards larger farms and a decrease in the number of full-time farmers. The country is known for its majestic mountains, such as the Grossglockner, its highest peak, as well as its vibrant cultural life and musical heritage.

The nine federal states of Austria

Austria is a federal republic consisting of nine federal states, which are locally known as "Bundeslander". The European Commission calls them provinces. Austrian federal states can pass laws that stay within the limits of the constitution, and each federal state has representatives in the main Austrian parliament. Each Austrian federal state has an elected legislature, the federal state parliament, and a federal state government (Landesregierung) headed by a governor (Landeshauptmann or Landeshauptfrau).

• Carinthia (Kärnten)
• Lower Austria (Niederösterreich)
• Upper Austria (Oberösterreich)
• Styria
• Tyrol
• Vorarlberg
• Salzburg
• Vienna
• Burgenland

Vienna is both a state and the capital city of Austria. It is the largest city/state with a population of approximately 1.9 million people. The metropolitan area of Vienna has a population of about 2.6 million or one-third of the country's population. The city-state lies in the northeastern part of Austria, in the extreme eastern part of the Alps in the Vienna Basin. It covers an area of approximately 160.1 square miles, making it Austria’s largest city both by area and population (but the smallest state). Vienna received the federal state status in 1920. It is one of the richest regions in the EU, with a GRP per capita of 47,200 euros.

Lower Austria is the country’s largest state by area, covering 7,408 square miles. However, it is the second-largest state in Austria with a population of approximately 1.6 million people. Since 1986, St Polten has been Lower Austria’s capital city. Previously, Vienna was the state’s capital although the city has never officially been part of the state. Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state and is named after its downriver location on the Enns River. It shares its international borders with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It also borders other Austrian states including Vienna, Upper Austria, Burgenland, and Styria.

Upper Austria is the third most populous state in Austria with a population of approximately 1.4 million people. However, it is the fourth most extensive state with an area of about 4,626 square miles. Upper Austria shares its international borders with the Czech Republic and Germany. The state is traditionally divided into four regions and has three statutory cities with Linz as its capital. Upper Austria is the leading industrial region in Austria, accounting for approximately 25% of the country’s total export.

Styria is situated in Southeast Austria and covers an area of about 6,332 square miles, making it the second-largest state after Lower Austria. It shares its international border with Slovenia. The state has a population of approximately 1.2 million people, with some 275,000 people living in the capital Graz. Administratively, Styria is divided into 13 districts of which one (Graz) is a statutory city.

Tyrol, located in Western Austria, is the third-largest state by land area, covering approximately 4,897 square miles. The state is separated into two sections by a 4.3-mile-wide strip with North Tyrol as the larger territory (the other territory is East Tyrol). With a population of about 750,000 people, the state is the 5th-largest in Austria. It forms part of the historical Princely County of Tyrol. Tyrol’s capital is Innsbruck.

The majority of the land area in the federal states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna, and Burgenland is situated in the Danube valley and thus consists almost completely of accessible and easily arable terrain. Austria's most densely populated federal state is Vienna, the heart of what is Austria's only metropolitan area. Lower Austria ranks only fourth in population density even though it contains Vienna's suburbs; this is due to large areas of land being predominantly agricultural. The alpine federal state Tyrol, the less alpine but geographically more remote federal state Carinthia, and the non-alpine but near-exclusively agricultural federal state Burgenland are Austria's least densely populated federal states. The wealthy alpine federal state Vorarlberg is something of an anomaly due to its small size, isolated location, and distinct Alemannic culture.

The Austrian constitution

Austria is a federal republic consisting of nine federal states, also called provinces. The country is largely mountainous and landlocked, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is bordered by Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

The Austrian federal states can pass laws that stay within the limits of the constitution, and each federal state has representatives in the main Austrian parliament. Austrian federalism is largely theoretical, as the federal states are granted few legislative powers. The constitution initially granted all legislative powers to the federal states, but many of these have since been taken away.

The Austrian federal states' limited legislative powers

Austria is a federal republic consisting of nine federal states. The European Commission calls them provinces. Austrian federal states can pass laws that stay within the limits of the constitution, and each federal state has representatives in the main Austrian parliament.

Each Austrian federal state has an elected legislature, the federal state parliament, and a federal state government (Landesregierung) headed by a governor (Landeshauptmann or Landeshauptfrau). Elections are held every five years (six years in Upper Austria). The federal state constitution, among other things, determines how the seats in the federal state government are assigned to political parties, with most federal states having a system of proportional representation based on the number of delegates in the federal state parliament in place. The governor is elected by the federal state parliament, though in practice the governor is the leader of the majority party or coalition in the federal state parliament.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, plays a dual role as a city and a federal state. The mayor has the rank of a federal state governor, while the city council also functions as a federal state parliament. Under the municipal constitution, however, city and federal state business must be kept separate. Hence, while the city council and the federal state parliament have identical memberships, they hold separate meetings, and each body has separate presiding officers. When meeting as a city council, the deputies can only deal with city affairs; when meeting as a federal state parliament, they can only deal with affairs of the state.

Austrian federalism is largely theoretical, as the federal states are granted few legislative powers. Austria's constitution initially granted all legislative powers to the federal states, but many powers have been subsequently taken away, and only a few remain. These include planning and zoning codes, nature protection, hunting, fishing, farming, youth protection, certain issues of public health and welfare, and the right to levy certain taxes.

All other matters, including but not limited to criminal law, civil law, corporate law, most aspects of economic law, defense, most educational matters and academia, telecommunications, and much of the healthcare system are regulated by national law. There is also no judiciary of the federal states, since Austria's constitution defines the judiciary as an exclusively national matter. This centralisation follows a historic model where central power during the time of the empire was largely concentrated in Vienna.

However, the federal state governor (Landeshauptmann) is in charge of the administration of much of the federal administrative law within the respective province, which makes this post an important political position. Furthermore, federal state competences include zoning laws, planning issues, and public procurement on the regional level, which adds considerable weight to federal state politics. As a practical matter, there have been cases where federal states have been able to delay projects endorsed by the national government, as in the case of the Semmering Base Tunnel, a railway tunnel being built under the Semmering.

Austrian federal states are formally and practically endowed with a much smaller degree of autonomy than American states or German lands. Even so, Austrians tend to identify passionately with their respective federal state and often defend what little independent governance their federal state has. It is not unheard of for Austrians to consider themselves, for instance, Tyrolean first, Austrian second.

The Austrian federal states' parliaments

Austria is a federal republic consisting of nine federal states, or provinces, which are called Bundesländer in German. Each of these states has its own elected legislature, the federal state parliament, and a federal state government (Landesregierung) led by a governor (Landeshauptmann or Landeshauptfrau).

The federal state parliament elects the governor, who is typically the leader of the majority party or coalition in the federal state parliament. The federal state constitution determines how the seats in the federal state government are distributed among the political parties, with most federal states employing a system of proportional representation based on the number of delegates in the federal state parliament.

Each federal state can pass laws that stay within the limits of the constitution, and they have representatives in the main Austrian parliament. However, Austrian federalism is largely theoretical, as the federal states have few legislative powers. While the constitution initially granted all legislative powers to the federal states, many of these powers have since been taken away. The federal states retain the power to legislate on matters such as planning and zoning codes, nature protection, hunting, fishing, farming, youth protection, certain public health and welfare issues, and the right to levy certain taxes.

The mayor of Vienna, the capital of Austria, has the rank of a federal state governor, and the city council also functions as a federal state parliament. However, the municipal constitution mandates that city and federal state matters be kept separate. As a result, while the city council and the federal state parliament share the same members, they hold separate meetings and have separate presiding officers.

The Austrian Parliament, which is located in Vienna, consists of two chambers: the National Assembly (Nationalrat) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat). The National Assembly is the primary legislative body, while the Federal Council represents the interests of the provinces in Parliament.

The Austrian federal states' governments

Austria is a federal republic consisting of nine federal states, also called provinces by the European Commission. Each Austrian federal state has an elected legislature, the federal state parliament, and a federal state government (Landesregierung) headed by a governor (Landeshauptmann or Landeshauptfrau). The federal state constitution determines how the seats in the federal state government are assigned to political parties, with most federal states having a system of proportional representation based on the number of delegates in the federal state parliament.

The governor is elected by the federal state parliament and is usually the leader of the majority party or coalition in the federal state parliament. Vienna, the capital of Austria, is both a city and a federal state. The mayor of Vienna has the rank of a federal state governor, while the city council also functions as a federal state parliament. However, city and federal state business must be kept separate. While the city council and the federal state parliament have identical memberships, they hold separate meetings and have separate presiding officers.

Austrian federalism is largely theoretical, as the federal states have few legislative powers. Austria's constitution initially granted all legislative powers to the federal states, but many powers have since been taken away. The federal states retain powers relating to planning and zoning codes, nature protection, hunting, fishing, farming, youth protection, certain issues of public health and welfare, and the right to levy certain taxes. All other matters, including criminal law, civil law, corporate law, economic law, defense, educational matters, telecommunications, and the healthcare system are regulated by national law.

The federal state governor (Landeshauptmann) is in charge of the administration of much of federal administrative law within the respective province, making this an important political position. Federal state competences include zoning laws, planning issues, and public procurement at the regional level, which gives considerable weight to federal state politics. There have been cases where federal states have been able to delay projects endorsed by the national government.

Austrian federal states have a much smaller degree of autonomy than American states or German lands. Austrians tend to identify passionately with their respective federal state and often defend its independent governance.

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