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Cooperations

For the Austrian Parliament, cooperation is an important platform for in-depth exchange with parliaments worldwide.

What is parliamentary cooperation?

The aim of parliamentary cooperation is to deepen collaboration along selected thematic and geographical priorities. Furthermore, this enables the Austrian Parliament to establish its international standing, promote exchange, and build a corresponding network.

In addition to the priorities of democracy education and capacity building, focus is on parliamentary issues such as the rule of law and the functioning and strengthening of democratic institutions. The exchange takes place in a variety of ways:

  • multi-year projects and regularly-offered programmes
  • study visits
  • delegation visits
  • internships
  • (virtual) exchange of know-how

In this way, an exchange with visible results can be achieved at the political and administrative levels. As a key element of parliamentary diplomacy, it is also possible to address very specific issues. Another aspect of developing cooperation projects is collaboration with international partners and institutions.

Western Balkans

Austria actively supports the Western Balkan countries’ path towards accession to the European Union. The region therefore also forms a key focus of the Austrian Parliament’s foreign policy activities. The six states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) are at different stages of the accession process.

The Austrian Parliament’s work focuses on bilateral and multilateral projects as well as on the Western Balkans Fellowship Programme in cooperation with the EFB (European Fund for the Balkans).

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Eastern Partnership

Countries of the "Eastern Partnership" are another focus of parliamentary cooperation. The Austrian Parliament maintains particularly close with the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada and the Parliament of Moldova.

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Sub-Saharan Africa

As part of North-South parliamentary cooperation, the Austrian Parliament seeks to establish partnerships with selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Austria is currently engaged primarily with the National Assembly of Zambia.

In the course of cooperation with the Nigerian Parliament, visits have also took place during which there was exchange on various aspects of parliamentary operations. Particular interest was shown in the distinctive features of the Austrian Parliament.

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North Africa & Middle East

The Austrian Parliament is in political and administrative exchange with the Israeli Knesset and the Moroccan Parliament. The aim is to deepen the exchange on a wide range of topics.

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East Asia

The Austrian Parliament's cooperation in this region particularly focuses on exchanges with the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. 

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Democracy Workshop International

Parliament's Democracy Workshops teaches children and young people about democracy and parliamentarianism, thereby strengthening democratic awareness and participation.

With the support of the Parliamentary Administration, institutions based on the Austrian Democracy Workshop model have also been set up in the Parliaments of Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania. There are also collaborations with other countries.

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IPEX

IPEX, short for "Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange," is a platform for the rapid exchange of EU-related information between national parliaments. The internet platform and the personal network of the responsible IPEX correspondents is aimed at strengthening and simplifying interparliamentary cooperation in the European Union.

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