Separation law

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Separation Act is the short title of an identical provincial law of the two Austrian provinces of Vienna and Lower Austria of December 29, 1921, entered into force on January 1, 1922. The two new federal states in this form were established by the Federal Constitutional Act that came into force on November 10, 1920 , essentially the core of the Federal Constitution to this day ; the separation act confirmed the de facto separation and finalized the divorce under financial law.

In a broader sense, all laws can be described as separation laws, which meant that Vienna was no longer the capital and part of the state of Lower Austria since November 1920 and that the joint property of the two new states was divided up until 1922.

background

The main motives for the separation of Vienna from Lower Austria were:

  • Lower Austria including Vienna appeared to the other six federal states ( Burgenland was not yet one of them) too big; it comprised half of all residents of the Republic of Austria, as it emerged in 1918/1919 after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy .
  • The mostly Red Vienna under Mayor Jakob Reumann did not want to be dependent on the predominantly conservative rural areas around Vienna - and vice versa.
  • The conservatives in rural areas did not want to be represented by the social democratic governor of Lower Austria, Albert Sever , who had been elected by the majority of the social democratic MPs from town and country.

The Separation Act was somewhat analogous to the Greater Berlin Act which came into force in the German Reich in 1920 .

1920: Federal Constitution with the State of Vienna

The Federal Constitution (B-VG) of the Republic, passed by the Constituent National Assembly on October 1, 1920 and entered into force on November 10, 1920, defined the function of the City of Vienna as a federal state in its Articles 108–114.

With immediate effect, Vienna had to send its representatives to the Federal Council , determine its constitution and state finances , and come to an agreement with Niederösterreich-Land , as Lower Austria without Vienna was now called until the end of 1921, on which previous similarities should be continued and for how long how previous state property is to be divided. The federal constitution stipulated in Article 114 for the "complete separation", which meant the completion of the division of assets, corresponding state laws, but did not specify a time frame.

In all other matters, each of the two parts of the country now has the status of an independent country :

  • Lower Austria state with governor and state parliament without Viennese representation,
  • in Vienna, the mayor would also act as governor, the city senate as the provincial government, the municipal council as the provincial parliament and the magistrate director as the provincial office director .

1920: Vienna City Constitution

On the day the Federal Constitution came into force, the new state government under Jakob Reumann decided to adopt the constitution of the federal capital Vienna (Vienna City Constitution , WStV) which referred to the Federal Constitution and came into force when it was announced on November 18, 1920. In its Sections 120–153, Vienna's position as a state is regulated in addition to the federal constitution. The city constitution was certified by the mayor as governor and by the magistrate director as state office director .

The state of Lower Austria , as it was now called until December 31, 1921, passed its state constitution on November 30, 1920. As agreed with Vienna, the seat of the state parliament and the state government of Lower Austria remained in Vienna.

1921: The similarities end

The two new countries wanted very little and decided this very briefly together. In fact, it was almost exclusively a question of how the previous state property would be divided. In addition to a rudimentary joint state constitution and its own rules of procedure, the joint state parliament intended for joint affairs had only one legislative resolution to pass: the repeal of the joint constitution at the end of 1921.

The joint state constitution of Lower Austria for Vienna and Lower Austria-Land , notarized by Governor Albert Sever , was passed by the joint state parliament on December 28, 1920 and came into force on January 1, 1921. It no longer envisaged a joint state government, but only a five-person administrative commission to be elected from among the joint state parliament, in which the mayor of Vienna and the governor of Lower Austria would alternate to chair. (These two politicians also led the wealth-sharing negotiations.)

The joint state parliament only passed two further legislative resolutions:

  • a constitutional law of May 31, 1921 on the rules of procedure of the joint Landtag, notarized by Landtag President Seitz , Mayor Reumann and the Governor of Lower Austria, Mayer , and
  • a constitutional law of December 29, 1921 repealing the joint state constitution on December 31, 1921, whereby the joint state parliament, among other things, abolished itself.

1921: Property negotiations

The negotiations between Vienna and Lower Austria were conducted by a committee for over a year. The committee included the governors of Lower Austria and Vienna, Mayer and Reumann , and the MPs Zwetzbacher, Ségur , Christoph and Helmer from Lower Austria and the Vienna MPs Danneberg , Breitner , Tandler , Hoss, Rummelhardt , Kienböck and Nepustil .

It was essential for the representatives of Lower Austria-Land that the seat of the Lower Austrian provincial government and the Landtag could remain in the Landhaus in Vienna's Herrengasse and that the building fell to Lower Austria-Land. The other properties in the previous state of Lower Austria had to be split up; mostly those in Vienna fell to Vienna, those in Lower Austria to Niederösterreich-Land. Exceptions to this were social and health facilities, some of which Vienna was awarded in the area around the city. In the course of these negotiations, the Lower Austrian state railways were transferred to the federal government. A few objects and properties were not split up; in these cases, both countries should now appear as land register owners.

A designated arbitration tribunal should also be able to settle any disputes retrospectively. This did not have to go into action.

1921: Separation Act

After the successful conclusion of the negotiations on the division of the previous state assets and the joint use of some properties and facilities, concurrent separation laws were passed by Vienna and Lower Austria on December 29, 1921 in accordance with Art. 114 B-VG Took effect in 1922. The Separation Act stipulated that Vienna and Lower Austria now form independent federal states; furthermore, the result of the negotiations on the allocation of assets was laid down in law. On the same day, the joint state parliament decided to repeal the joint state constitution.

A commission that was responsible for accounts that had not yet been completed was able to complete its work in early 1923. Later accounts were made with the consent of the Province of Vienna by the Lower Austrian provincial government (ordinance of February 27, 1923).

The Separation Act was only changed twice:

  • With the constitutional laws of the two countries from March 15, 1923, three buildings in Vienna 1st, Löwelstrasse, were assigned ownership to one of the two countries
  • In February 1924, in consultation with Lower Austria, Vienna took over the liquidation of the Lower Austrian State Mortgage Company.

In Lower Austria, the Separation Act was reissued on September 27, 1978, incorporating these changes.

Lower Austria. State capital

In the laws of Lower Austria, the seat of the provincial government and parliament was set in Vienna. The creation of a separate Lower Austrian provincial capital was not a reality at the time for historical, traffic-related and financial reasons.

The question was raised by the provincial governor in 1984 and clarified in 1986 with a referendum among Lower Austrians , which in the same year led to the decision of the provincial capital Sankt Pölten and ten years later to the relocation of the provincial government and parliament there. The Landtag of Lower Austria held its first session in the new country house in St. Pölten on May 21, 1997.

In the event of the Lower Austrian Landtag or the Lower Austrian provincial government moving out of the historic country house in the city center of Vienna, the separation laws passed in 1921 provided in Section 6 (3) that Vienna's half ownership of the country house would be revived; Vienna would then have the right to buy half of the Lower Austrian share. Lower Austria agreed with Vienna in 1995 to replace Vienna's share.

See also

Individual evidence

BGBl. = Federal Law Gazette for the Republic of Austria

LGBl. = State Law Gazette

  1. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 1/1920 (= p. 14/15)
  2. ↑ LGBl. For Vienna No. 1/1920, Vienna als Land: pp. 21–27
  3. ↑ LGBl. F. Lower Austria State No. 1/1920
  4. ↑ LGBl. For Vienna No. 9/1920 (= p. 35); Identical: LGBl. for Lower Austria Country No. 86/1920
  5. ↑ LGBl. For Vienna No. 46/1921 (= p. 93)
  6. ↑ LGBl. For Vienna No. 157/1921 (= p. 263); LGBl. For Lower Austria. No. 364/1921 (= p. 366)
  7. ↑ a b Festive meeting of the Lower Austrian Parliament ( MS Word ; 63 kB) on December 17, 1981, accessed on November 8, 2009
  8. ↑ LGBl. For Vienna No. 153/1921 (= p. 253)
  9. ↑ LGBl. For Lower Austria Country No. 346/1921 (= p. 347)
  10. ↑ LGBl. For Lower Austria. No. 23/1923 (= p. 30)
  11. ↑ LGBl. For Lower Austria. No. 52/1923 and LGBl. For Vienna No. 42/1923
  12. ↑ LGBl. For Vienna No. 26/1924 and LGBl. For Lower Austria. No. 39/1924
  13. ↑ LGBl. For Lower Austria. No. 151/1978