Austria

The liberal party NEOS announced the abandonment of negotiations to form a coalition government together with the centre-right People's Party and the centre-left Social Democratic Party; in September the extreme right failed to form a coalition government

The Austrian Cultural Forum in Beijing and the Austrian Embassy in China recently opened an art exhibition in Beijing entitled Vienna Calling

The government has initiated an economic support programme for Syrian nationals in Austria who want to return to their country, which mainly consists in the delivery of 1000 euros in cash and practical advice and assistance

The Austrian statistical office reported that the country's GDP contracted for the sixth consecutive quarter in the July-September period, continuing the recessive trend that began in Q2 2023

Austria has experienced an early winter surprise as a cold front swept across the country, bringing snow to both mountainous and lowland areas; passes in Tyrol that had been closed for some hours due to heavy snowfall have been reopened

A group of Jewish students on Friday prevented the first speaker of Austria's far-right parliament from laying a wreath at the Holocaust memorial, accusing him of 'spitting in the face of our ancestors'

Austria's largest construction group, STRABAG SE, has been fined 2,79 million euros due to cartel allegations; the German Federal Cartel Office has target its subsidiary based in Cologne for illegal bidding with the renovation of the Zoobrücke bridge

Austria is one of the EU countries with strictest rules for foreigners wishing to obtain citizenship; more than 750.000 people who have been legally resident in the territory for more than ten years still do not hold an Austrian passport

Innio Group reported that it commissioned a 1 MW hydrogen cogeneration plant in Austria at the beginning of the heating season

Thousands marched through central Vienna on Thursday evening to urge the country's political parties not to join a coalition with the far-right FPÖ after the Freedom Party, led by its controversial leader Hebert Kickl won with 29% of the vote last Sunday

The far-right Freedom Party is doing very well and is favourite for the elections on Sunday 29: according to the polls, it is the leading party with 27% of the vote after a crisis in popularity since 2019 due to major scandals involving its president

Wien Energie, Vienna's state-owned heat and gas supplier, will avoid buying Russian gas and ensure that it is not sold to its customers from 2025 onwards

Austrian agriculture is struggling with the effects of the severe drought of recent weeks and months: damage to agriculture caused by the drought is estimated at €150 million