Discover Tyrol : Current issues

Political System at a Glance

On the Austrian side. Austria is a federal republic with a parliamentary structure and 9 Länder (provinces). One of these 9 provinces is the Land of Tyrol, consisting of North Tyrol and East Tyrol. The President of Austria is elected by direct universal suffrage for a term of six years, renewable once. Voting in the presidential election is a civic act that has been made compulsory. As the representative of his country in foreign relations, the president can conclude international treaties and agreements. He also appoints the chancellor and members of the government and swears in provincial governors. He is also the head of the military. Since 2017, the federal president of the Republic of Austria has been Alexander van der Bellen, supported by the ecologists. It should be noted, however, that the president in Austria is significantly less powerful than the French president and it is mainly the chancellor who represents the political voice of the country. The chancellor is the president of the federal government, which is composed of two chambers, the National Council (which votes on laws) and the Federal Council (called the Chamber of Provinces, which has the right to oppose laws enacted by the National Council). In the September 2019 parliamentary elections, the ÖVP (Austrian People's Party, center-right, Christian Democratic and liberal-conservative) of Sebastian Kurz came out on top. On January^1, 2020, a pact was signed between the ÖVP, the Greens and the centrist liberal party NEOS, forming an unprecedented government committed to developing a policy centred on environmental protection and the fight against immigration... In July 2021, Austria decided to strengthen the surveillance of its eastern and southern borders in response to the influx of migrants. Like the rest of Austria, the Austrian Tyrol is confronted with the rise of nationalism, with political life showing a withdrawal into identity and protectionism. Election campaigns regularly focus on immigration and the fight against terrorism. Suspected of being involved in a corruption case, Sebastian Kurz resigned on October 9, 2021. Karl Nehammer was appointed leader of the ÖVP party and has been Chancellor since December 6, 2021.

On the Italian side. The provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino, where Bolzano and Trento are located respectively, constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige, which enjoys a special status of autonomy. This status is also granted to other Italian regions: Sicily, Sardinia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Valle d'Aosta. Since 1972, the provinces of Bolzano and Trento have enjoyed almost all the administrative, legislative and fiscal powers of the region. The province of Bolzano has the most extensive autonomous status in Europe. The political organization of these provinces follows that of their Italian counterparts: they are represented by a Provincial Council (legislative body) and by a Giunta (executive body). The dominant political party in South Tyrol there is the SVP or Südtiroler Volkspartei (Christian Democratic Party from center to center left), while in Trentino it is the Lega (federal secretary Matteo Salvini, far-right populist party) that won the majority of votes in the 2018 elections. Maurizio Fugatti was elected president of the Trentino-Alto Adige region in 2021 following agreements between the SVP and the Lega. At the national level, Italy is a bicameral parliamentary democratic republic consisting of the Chamber of Deputies (Roberto Fico, M5S, since 2018) and the Senate of the Republic (Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, Forza Italia, since 2018), which exercise the legislative function. The executive power, meanwhile, is entrusted to the president of the Council of Ministers (since 2021 Mario Draghi, economist and banker), who is responsible for the general policy of the government. The President of the Republic (Sergio Mattarella since 2015) is elected every seven years by Parliament. His power consists of representing the Nation and he actually has little influence on the political life of the state, although he can, after consultation with their presidents, dissolve the two chambers or one of them. Any act of the President of the Republic is valid only if it is countersigned by the ministers who proposed it and who assume responsibility for it.

Economy at a Glance

Tyrol is an economically prosperous European region, but the Coronavirus crisis has, as in the rest of the world, somewhat undermined this. Thus, in Italy, the level of GDP per capita observed in 2020 ($35,451, source OECD) is lower than in 2009 ($38,262). As for Austria, the GDP for 2020 is $49,215, whereas it was $48,138 in 2009. For reference, this is still above the European average, which, again for 2020, was $34,957 per capita. In addition, according to INSEE, the unemployment rate among 15-74 year olds in September 2021 is 5.2% in the Austrian Tyrol, 9.2% in the Italian Tyrol, which is still lower than the unemployment rate for the whole of the European Union in the same period (6.7%)

Industrial location. Due to its central location in Europe, Tyrol is a trade crossroads between Eastern and Western Europe. For several decades now, the crisis in the industrial sector has had a lasting impact on Northern Italy, especially the automotive sector. Nevertheless, large companies are concentrated along the main arteries: the Inn valley for the Austrian part (Innsbruck, Schwaz, Kufstein), the Isarco and Adige valleys for the Italian part (Trento, Bolzano, Vipiteno). Mechanical engineering, the wood industry and the food industry are among the most represented industrial sectors. Finally, we should mention the industries linked to winter sports and the mountains, such as Leitner, one of the main companies specializing in cable transportation, whose headquarters are in Vipiteno. Another example is Salewa, based in Bolzano, which designs mountain clothing and mountaineering equipment

The place of tourism. Tourism has become over the years one of the major pillars of the Tyrolean economy. No less than 10 million tourists visit the Austrian Tyrol every year and almost 6 million in the Italian Tyrol alone. Travelers are attracted by mountain activities and are looking for nature, authenticity and sports activities: sublime ski areas, well-maintained and clearly marked hiking trails, numerous well-equipped refuges, vias ferratas, mountaineering, mountain biking... not to mention wine tourism, which has developed extensively along the Strada del Vino south of Bolzano and in the Trentino

The place of agriculture. In the Tyrol, there are still many family farms and agricultural structures or those organized as small and medium-sized businesses, even though many have reoriented or simply diversified their activities towards tourism. The Austrian Tyrol is renowned for the quality of its cattle, sheep and pig farming (meat and dairy products). However, agriculture in the Austrian Tyrol is still a minor sector, as the Austrian agricultural areas are concentrated along the Danube and in the east of the country. In the Italian Tyrol, apple cultivation is quite impressive: in some places, you can drive several dozen kilometers past apple fields! To give you an idea, you should know that approximately one apple out of ten consumed in the European Union comes from South Tyrol, which represents almost 2% of the world production. Grape growing also plays an important role, with approximately 14,000 hectares cultivated in the Italian Tyrol alone. In Trentino-Alto Adige, in the heart of the Dolomites, several valleys produce many famous wines. The region is also a major producer of dairy products (try the yoghurts from Merano!) as well as poultry products. Italy is also the European leader in the production of quality products (PDO, PGI or TSG). It is also one of the leaders in organic farming in the EU and the leading producer of high value-added wines. As is often the case, the price of land remains an obstacle to the development of the agricultural sector and the installation of young farmers in particular. Other obstacles: the costs of structures to modernize but also exposure to natural hazards: remember that the storm Vaia had devastated in 2018 thousands of hectares of forest and many farms, especially in the Dolomites. And it is not the climate disruption that is likely to improve this!

Natural resources. On the natural resources side, magnesite, graphite and iron ore are mainly found in the Tyrolean subsoil. The renewable energy sector is relatively well developed: huge water reserves provide the region with hydroelectric power for no less than two thirds of its electricity. The use of fertile soils in traditional, sustainable and organic agriculture is another source of income for Tyrol, and forestry contributes to a healthy paper industry.