Thanks to an unprecedented political backdrop, members of the Austrian parliament have engaged in a period of legislative frenzy in recent weeks, passing a record number of new laws. According to report published on the parliament’s website, some 30 laws were passed in two sittings in the house, close to one quarter of all laws passed since September 2018. New provisions include one month of parental leave for new fathers and an increase of the lower limit on old-age pensions for those who have contributed for at least 40 years to 1,200 euros. Thanks to this same dynamic, a system of subsidised jobs in public service roles, available for 20,000 people in long-term unemployment, could be extended in September.
Old divisions bec0me obsolete. After the governing coalition in Vienna, in place since the end of 2017 and involving the conservatives and the FPÖ nationalist party, imploded in late May, Austria has been governed since early June by a transitional government composed of experts, led by magistrate Brigitte Bierlein. This team must remain in place until the early parliamentary elections at the end of September. All of a sudden, the logic of coalition no longer applies and the division between th
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