Austrian Federalism: History–Properties–Change

In comparative research on federations, Austria ranks among the group of countries which “describe themselves as federations while being so centrally dominated in design and practice as to be little short of unitary states.” 1 It is first and foremost the remarkable power asymmetry between the two houses of parliament that creates doubt as to whether the country should still be considered a federal, or rather a unitary country. The Federal Constitutional Law (Bundesverfassungsgesetz= B-VG) provides for supremacy of theNationalrat(National Council) over theBundesrat(Federal Council), markedly expressed in Article 10 which assigns the “exclusive federal competence