National Council meeting: Focus on the economy under new leadership

National Council meeting: Focus on the economy under new leadership

On Thursday, the National Council came together for its second meeting in this new legislative period. The meeting was characterized by a certain routine after the first exciting days of the legislative period were now behind the MPs. A central topic on the agenda was the "current hour", which should deal with the current economic situation. In addition, the new sanctions regime was decided, which is introduced to the current geopolitical tensions in response.

In this session, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) had the opportunity to determine the topic of the “current hour”, which is rather unusual due to its strong result in the National Council election. The title of the hour was: "End of the destruction of the economy and workplaces", and addressed the new Economic Minister Martin Kocher from the ÖVP, which is also expected in his future role as Governor of the National Bank.

appointment as public lawyer

Another important point on the agenda was the choice of Elisabeth Schwetz as the prosecutor. This decision was a bit surprising, since Schwetz was so far the district captain of Wels-Land. However, your choice is considered safe and she will work together with Gaby Schwarz and Bernhard Achitz in the public prosecutor. Walter Rosenkranz, the new President of the National Council, headed the meeting and thus set a clear sign of change within the committee.

Furthermore, the session brought a reform of the Sanctions Act to the agenda. This law was created in direct connection to Russian aggression in Ukraine and aims to accelerate the implementation of international law sanctions. This is intended to make it difficult to avoid sanctions and improve the information flows between the relevant authorities. In the future, the financial market supervision will take responsibility for monitoring international law sanctions, instead of the National Bank, starting in 2026.

Although the old government no longer has the majority, it is not expected that there are significant resistance to these legal decisions. Only the FPÖ had voted against the package in the budget committee, which indicates that the other factions are still behind the project.

It remains to be seen how the session will influence the political dynamics in the course of the legislative period, especially with regard to the planned initiatives of the FPÖ and the reaction of the coalition partners. The political negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ, Neos and the Greens are still underway.

Details and comprehensive information on the decisions made can be found in the reporting on www.vol.at .