Spar hammer in parliament: shortened opening times, events deleted!

Spar hammer in parliament: shortened opening times, events deleted!

The Austrian Parliament plans significant savings in connection with the budgets for the years 2025 and 2026. From autumn 2025, Parliament will only be open to visitors on montages until 1 p.m., which represents a reduction in opening hours. Around 1,800 people are currently coming to parliament every day. The savings also result in a deletion of events without direct parliamentary relationship, while the costs for buffets are to be reduced at such events in order to relax the budget situation. According to OE24 it becomes a significant restructuring of the resources of the parliament.

For 2025, a decline in payments in the subdivision of federal legislation by 28.2 million euros, which corresponds to around 9 percent, is expected to a total of 284.8 million euros. Another minus of 2.4 million euros will be predicted for 2026, which could drop the budget to 282.4 million euros. The budget committee explains the declines with the completed renovation of the parliamentary building and a one -off payment that was for the National Fund. These measures are part of a more comprehensive plan to reduce costs, such as the Parliament Service emphasized.

An important element of budget planning are the upcoming projects in the field of democracy education, including an analysis of the possible uses of artificial intelligence and an information campaign to promote voter sharing. These initiatives show that despite financial savings, long -term projects are in planning to strengthen and promote democracy.