The Austria (in German: Österreich ) is a country of central Europe, member of the European Union and Euro area. Without access to the sea, Austria is surrounded by the Suisse and the Liechtenstein in the west, the Italy and the Slovenia in the south, the Hungary and the Slovakia in the east, the Germany and the Czech Republic in north.

History

See also: History of Austria

Austria was occupied by the Romains, the Huns, the Russian, the Ostrogoths, the Bavares and the Francs. The Babenberg dominated Austria between 10th and 13th century. The Habsbourg succeeded to them and remained with the capacity until in 1918, initially under the name of Habsbourg until in 1780, then under the name of Habsbourg-Lorraine.

Austria was annexed (Anschluss) by the Nazi Germany in 1938. The allied troops occupied it at the end of the Second world war and were withdrawn in 1955 (the film celebrates “the Third Man” occurs in the town of Vienna cut in several sectors like was Berlin).

In May 1955, the Foreign Ministers and the ambassadors of Soviet Union, of the United Kingdom, of the United States and France, as well as the Austrian Minister for the foreign affairs, Leopold Figl, sign the Traité Austrian State ( Staatsvertrag ). This event is commemorated by the pulling of a part of 2 euros struck in May 2005.

Policy

See also: Austrian Political system

The democracy always has was imposed by powers étrangéres, after the two world wars. There N is thus no culture of protest (demonstration strikes) or mistrust with respect to l´ state rather a tradition d´ obedience with the authority (social dialog). At the time of the French revolution l´Autriche will be l´âme resistance vis-a-vis the revolutionary ideas. The parties of extreme right-hand side are powerful, legacy of the past national-Socialist. Since the end of the second world war the left has nevertheless builds a powerful social state, or the richnesses are well distributes.

Austria is a neutral country , which does not form for example not part of NATO, unlike the majority of the European countries. The Austrian Neutralité is a direct consequence of the negotiations for the Traité Austrian State ( Staatsvertrag ), signed on May 15th, 1955 with Vienna.

The country is member of l´union European since January 1st, 1995, if this union is beneficial for l economy the country has little there political power.

The Austrian National council ( Nationalrat , 183 seats) is since October 1st 2006 made up as follows:

  • 68 seats with SPÖ (Left social democrat Austrian) (35,34% of the votes);

  • 66 seats with ÖVP (Austrian Popular party) (34,33%);
  • 21 seats with die Grünen (Greens) (11,05%);
  • 21 seats with FPÖ (Austrian Liberal party) (11,04%);
  • 7 seats with BZÖ (Union Austria Future) (4,11%; the BZÖ was created on April 4th 2005 by Jörg Haider at the time of a scission of the FPÖ).

The federal president, Heinz Fischer of the SPÖ was elected the April 25th 2004 with 52,41% of the voices compared with 47,59% of the voices for Benita Ferrero-Waldner. He was established the July 8th 2004, that is to say two days after the death of his predecessor Thomas Klestil.

Bundesländer (states)

See also: Land (Austria)

Austria is a Republic federating nine States or Bundesländer :

Geography

See also: Geography of Austria, Towns of Austria

Located in the middle of the Central Europe, Austria with the advantage of having common borders with eight country. It is a mountainous country: the the Alps occupy two thirds of surface on the ground. The longest river is the the Danube, which also cross the Germany, the Slovakia, the Hungary, the Serbia and the Romania. Its course in Austria extends on 350 km. The culminating point is the Grossglockner, which rises with 3797 meters.

70% of the country are covered by the Alps, or the rivers (Inn, Salzach, Drau, Mur) trace valleys where concentrates the alpine human life. In spite of the mountains, the country has a prosperous agriculture. In the east there is the Bassin of Vienna where the the Danube joint the Austrian capital Vienna.

The country counts approximately 8 d´habitants million, with the capital comes which counts 1,67 million d´habitants one often speaks about macrocephaly, as in France with Paris. As in much of country developed the population ages.

Economy

See also: Economy of Austria, List of Austrian companies

  • Unemployment rate: 4,5% (at the end of 2005) according to the European data, 7,1% (April 2005) according to the Austrian methods of calculating.

  • GDP (Gross domestic product): 254 billion dollars (in 2005)
  • GDP per capita: 31.406 dollars (in 2005)
  • GDP, composition by sector:
    • primary (agriculture): 3% (6% of the active population)
    • secondary (industries): 40% tertiary
    • (services): 57 %

With an important sector of subcontracting, Austria is primarily a country of small and medium-size companies.

Strong points of Austrian industry:

  • chemical industry (cellulose, petrochemistry);
  • the textile industry and of clothing (top-of-the-range);
  • the industry of paper and the paste board (thanks to the very abundant forest resources);
  • electric and electronic industry (more than 400 companies electric or electronic components, chip to the turn-key delivered powerplant manufacture);
  • the agro-alimentary one (largely profited from European integration);
  • metallurgical and mechanical industry (the sector headlight, Austria is an exporting country of machine tools).

Demography

See also: Demography of Austria

With a population estimated at 8  292  322 inhabitants at the end of September 2006, Austria posts a growth of more than 280  000 residents since the end of December 2000, and knew an appreciable population growth thus.

The growth was of 53  200 inhabitants in 2005. The average rate of 0,66% observed in 2004-2005 was five times superior at the rate extremely low posted in the middle of the years 1990.

But, following the example all its neighbors, the country forms actually part of the group of country of Europe central-Southerner to very low fertility rate (1,41% in 2005, one happy new year however, against 1,92 in France). The surplus of the births is very weak (of -1000 with + 5  000 people these last years) and due completely to the natural surplus from abroad. The totality of the increase in population noted is due to a new wave of immigration. On 78  000 births in 2005, more 9  000 were of foreign nationality, and much more still by counting the births related to immigrant or foreign parents coldly naturalized. The flow of clear immigration exceeded 50  000 people in 2004 as in 2005, is proportionally nearly three times more than in France, and that in spite of the arrival of the extreme right-hand side to the capacity as of the end of the year 1990. The level of acquisitions of Austrian nationality is raised, especially in the young people and reached close to 35  000 foreigners in 2005, after years 2003 and 2004 records (44  694 and 41  645). L´Autriche however prohibits to work with the citizens who n´ont not of nationality of l´UE, in order to slow down l immigration.

The life expectancy in Austria rises at 82.1 years for the women and 76.4 years for the men.

Infrastructure

Transport

The Austrian transport infrastructure is directly dependant on its situation, on the one hand within the the Alps, and on the other hand with its situation of crossroads in the center of the Central Europe, that it is from the point of view of the road links as much as railway. The installation of transportation routes in the Alps requires many tunnels and bridges having for characteristics to have to resist extreme weather conditions. Because of its central situation, Austria constitutes a country of transit de facto, mainly for the North-South axes and North-South-Is, and since the fall of the Iron curtain also for the East-West axis. That thus implies a Net oversizing of the transportation routes, in particular in significant ecological zones, often raising protests on behalf of the population.

To face this difficult combination of at the same time economic and ecological interests, certain measurements were made necessary, succeed to make of Austria a country to the outposts of environmental protection. The alpine republic for example very early imposed the use of catalytic pots on the motorized vehicles. Certain lanes are open only to the trucks with reduced noise pollution. Various deregulations however involved, mainly among certain populations such as those of the valley of the Inn, a feeling to be forgotten by the authorities of regulation acting at the national and international levels, in particular by the European Union.

Road transport

The Austrian highway network is currently composed of:

  • 47,59% of Highway S (" Autobahnen ") and fast tracks;

  • 47,59% of roads with character priority (in the past federal roads or " Bundesstraßen ") ;
  • 25.000 km of regional roads (" Landesstraßen ") ;
  • 70.000 km of communal roads (" Gemeindestraßen ").

The highway network is maintained mainly by the State. A tax on the vehicles exists on the highway network, in the obligatory shape of label (73 € in 2007 for an annual label). The trucks must pay a kilometric royalty (maximum 0,273 €/km) at the company ASFINAG.

All the vehicles have as an obligation to light their headlights, even day, at the same time downtown and outwards. The drivers in infringement see themselves punishing by fines (starting from 15 €) since April 15th, 2006.

Rail-bound transport

The majority of the railway network is managed by the company ÖBB (" Österreichische Bundesbahnen"). Other companies also present in Austrian shoed transport, are held either by the Lands, or by the private sector.

  • In 2006, nearly 440 million passengers borrowed the Austrian railway network, that is to say an increase of 10 million compared to 2005. This rapid growth as of the insufficient investments obliged ÖBB to rent additional coaches near its partners German, Swiss, Italian, Rumanian, Hungarian and Polish, in order to face the request in particular at the time of the holidays of Christmas 2006. The average age of the coaches of ÖBB is 21 years.

  • the transport of trucks per railway (also known under the term of “combined transport”) is under fast development: the crossing of the Tyrol on rails was used by nearly 110.000 trucks in 2006, that is to say an increase of 130% of the traffic. Grace partly to important subsidies on behalf of the Austrian Federal state, and according to ÖBB , this means of transport would be allocated approximately 20% less expensive to the conveyers, and moreover makes it possible to the drivers to better respect their lawful times of pause.

A network of S-Bahn (equivalent with the French trains RER) is deployed currently only in the areas surrounding Vienna and Salzburg. Graz, Linz and Innsbruck has projects of such networks.

Vienna is the only Austrian city with being equipped with a true network of subway (" U-Bahn"). Certain stations of the network of tram of Linz are under ground. The towns of Vienna, Graz, Linz, Innsbruck and Gmunden also have a network of tram. The village of Serfaus, located daN the Tyrol, has a " Luftkissenschwebebahn " underground, sometimes regarded as the smallest subway in the world.

Armed forces

See also: Austrian Army

Culture

See also: Culture of Austria

Austria gave the day to many famous artists, like the type-setters Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born with Salzburg), Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss (father and wire), Anton Bruckner, or Gustav Mahler, the actress Romy Schneider, and the painters Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt.

Television

  • Austrian Television
  • Television channels

Classical music

The country counts several orchestras of international repute, the such Concentus Musicus Wien, directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and especially the Philharmonic orchestra of Vienna leads by invited chiefs of reputation.

Personalities

Among the other famous Austrians one counts the physicists Ludwig Boltzmann and Erwin Schrödinger, the economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, the philosophers Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the writers Stefan Zweig, Robert Musil, Carl Zuckmayer, Elfriede Jelinek or Thomas Bernhard as well as the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the actress Hedy Lamarr. Without forgetting Adolf Hitler, emigrated in Germany in 1913, its Austrian nationality being finished on April 7th, 1925.

Located in the the Alps, Austria is the fatherland many alpine skiers, like Toni Sailer, Hermann Maier, Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Anita Wachter and Benjamin Raich.

Practical informations

The religious practice was there of 35% in the Années 1950.

Statistics

  • Ends of altitude: + 115 m > + 3.798 m

  • Telephone lines: 4 million (in 1999)
  • Cellphones: 4,5 million (in 2000)
  • Radios: 6,08 million (in 1997)
  • Television stations: 4,25 million (in 1997)
  • Users of Internet: 2,6 million (in 2000)
  • Many suppliers of access Internet: 37 (in 2000)
  • Roads: 133.361 km (tarred totality) (in 1998)
  • Railways: 6.095 km (in 2001)
  • inland Waterways: 358 km (in 1999)
  • Many airports: 55 (including 24 with tarred tracks) (in 2000)

References

Codes

Austria has as codes:

See too

External bonds

  • Gate of the Austrian administration
  • Austrian federal presidency
  • Gate of the Austrian federal government
  • Austrian Parliament
  • the result of the elections at the Austrian National council since 1945
  • the official site of the tourist office of Austria

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