260 hours of meetings

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(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

In the past parliamentary year, the National Council came up with an above-average number of legislative resolutions - namely 214. In the past 25 years, the body has only passed more new legislation in 2020/21 with 231 resolutions, according to the balance sheet. Members of Parliament who were always present spent 260 hours and 28 minutes in the House at 46 sittings - and for the first time since the renovation, they were back in the historic building on the Ring in their entirety

There were slightly more sittings than in 2023/24 in the previous session year 2022/23 with 57 - although seven special sittings also took place then. In the past parliamentary year, there was only one, which dealt with the topic of neutrality at the request of the FPÖ against the backdrop of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. There were also 154 committee meetings and 22 sub-committee meetings. The committees of inquiry into COFAG and the "red-blue abuse of power" held a total of 31 meetings.

A quarter of the legislative decisions were made in the final days of the session
58 of the 214 legislative resolutions were passed in the last few days of meetings before the summer break last week alone. A record is also emerging for the entire legislative period - since the 1970s, no more than 900 legislative resolutions have been passed in a single legislative period, according to parliamentary correspondence. This year, there are already 929 - one reason could be the coronavirus pandemic, during which numerous special provisions were passed and in some cases extended several times.

(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

Not even one in three decisions taken unanimously
Looking at the past parliamentary year, 29%, or just under a third, of legislative decisions were taken unanimously. The government was able to implement 20 bills with the necessary two-thirds majority, including the Freedom of Information Act. However, just last week, for example, the Biogas Act failed due to a lack of approval from the FPÖ or SPÖ. In addition to legislative resolutions, 17 state treaties and 12 agreements with the federal provinces were approved in 2023/24 and 74 reports from the government, Court of Audit and Ombudsman's Office were put under negotiation.

39 calls to order necessary
342 debates took place in plenary - often over several agenda items. There were nine "topical hours" and three "topical European hours", with one party presenting a topic for discussion in each case. Members of the government also answered questions during seven question and answer sessions. At the request of the opposition, six "urgent motions" and three "urgent questions" were discussed. There were also nine "short debates" on written replies to questions from individual members of the government and motions to set deadlines, as well as one further debate in the run-up to the COFAG-U committee. The presidents of the National Council called the House to order 39 times - these are used, for example, for offensive statements.

According to parliamentary correspondence, the number of motions of censure remained low at two, despite massive criticism of the government in some cases - the SPÖ demanded the resignation of the entire federal government in the fall because, according to them, it had done too little to combat inflation. Last week, the FPÖ called for a vote of no confidence in Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) because she had approved the EU renaturation regulation. Both motions were unsuccessful.

Decline in written inquiries
The number of written questions declined to 3189 (2022/23: 3650) - the vast majority of which were sent to the government (3168). The FPÖ was responsible for the majority (1632), followed by the SPÖ (853), the NEOS (659), the Greens (27) and the ÖVP (18). At 485, the most inquiries were received by Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP).

While the legislative period will continue until September, the 2023/24 session officially ends on Tuesday. The National Council will not meet again as scheduled until after the summer break on September 18. After the National Council elections on September 29, there will be numerous new heads in Parliament - the current President of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), who is no longer standing as a candidate, will not be present.