Talk:National Council of Austria

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In view of the content of the article, is the Category:National lower houses correct here? Mikkalai 02:43, 26 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Good question. On the one hand, Austria's constitution does not refer to the National Council as lower house. On the other hand, the National Council is a lower house in the sense that this is were the legislative action is - the Federal Council hardly ever really does anything, in true upper-house fashion. Ratatosk 14:07, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Wrong information

This following sentence in the section "Peculiarities" is not correct:

Austria's federal constitution defines Austria to be a presidential democracy: the executive branch of government is supposed to be headed by the president and not to be answerable to the legislative branch.

According to the Austrian constitution the government is headed by the chancellor and not by the president (although the latter is, in theory, totally free to appoint anyone he wants to be chancellor). Furthermore, the President is bound by the constitution to dismiss the government, if there is a successful Motion of no confidence, thus the government is answerable to the legislative branch. Gugganij 11:15, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Additionally, the following sentence is not entirely correct:

The approval of the National Council is also required for any of the prerogatives of the Federal Assembly to be exercised. For example, motions to impeach the President, motions to call for a referendum aimed at having the President removed from office by the electorate, and motions to declare war all need a two-thirds majority in the National Council.

Compare with Federal Assembly – Responsibilities and Legal Principles. Gugganij 22:43, 17 November 2006 (UTC)