For years, Austria has been considered the European champion and the world’s number two (behind Japan, note) when it comes to the “cost of democracy” per capita, i.e. party support. And this source was also rich in 2023. A total of 237.4 million euros (see graphic) went to parties, their parliamentary and state parliamentary clubs and political academies at federal and state level this year. According to a statement by the APA, this corresponded to an increase of 6.9 percent compared to the previous year. This means that 26 euros of public tax money per resident goes to the parties for their political work.
80 million euros to the ÖVP
Most of the money flows towards the People’s Party, which, together with its state parties and parliamentary clubs, received almost 80 million euros in funding this year. The SPÖ follows with 63.1 million euros, ahead of the FPÖ (39.4 million) and the Greens (30.8 million euros). The Neos receive 16.7 million euros from the federal and state governments, the KPÖ 2.2 million and the vaccination skeptic party MFG 1.3 million euros.
Which party receives how much depends on the election results in the respective federal state and in the National Council election. Successes at the ballot box also bring the parties more money from the state. The Freedom Party was able to benefit from this this year, making strong gains in the state elections in Lower Austria and Salzburg and slightly in Carinthia. In total, blue funding revenue has increased by 13 percent – clearly above the inflation rate.
In Salzburg, the KPÖ benefited significantly from the surprise success. She entered the state parliament in April with almost 12 percent of the vote and thus receives a good 700,000 euros for the party and club. The communists are traditionally strong in Styria, where they receive 1.5 million euros from the state. The additional Graz party funding is not included here. The KPÖ is the mayor there.
As a rule, party funding increases with inflation, while club funding increases with civil servant salaries. However, the rules of the states differed significantly in detail. The funds paid out rose particularly sharply this year in Vienna. The capital had largely frozen its funding in 2021 and 2022. Now the sum of party, club and academy funding has increased by eleven percent to 46.4 million euros.
Upper Austria behind Vienna
Party funding is traditionally high in Upper Austria, where in a country comparison with 29.4 million euros it lands well behind Vienna, but still takes second place. Not included here are the generous subsidies that the state parties in Upper Austria receive for their party-related organizations and clubs. In the previous year this was a total of around 3.7 million euros.
In Upper Austria, Styria (27.7 million euros) and Salzburg (8.7 million), the year-on-year increase was over eight percent. Burgenland increased its subsidies (4.5 million euros) by 6.7 percent, the federal government by 6.2 percent to 71.3 million euros. Of this, the parties receive 34.5 million euros, the parliamentary clubs receive 26.3 million euros and the political academies receive 10.5 million euros. The increase in funding was lowest in Carinthia (plus 1.6 percent to 9.6 million euros).
