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Austria Agriculture and Fishing Overview
Austria Facts
Austria is known for its numerous events and
festivals as well as the magnificent Alps, hiking and skiing.
Capital: Vienna
Official language: German
Currency: Euro
Passport and visa: A Finnish citizen needs a
passport or identity card as a travel document.
Time difference to Finland: -1
Agriculture and fishing
The best agricultural lands lie along the
Danube and on the plains to the east. Here you will find
cereals, vegetables, fruit and vineyards, as well as
stock of cattle. Animal care dominates in the alpine
areas to the west.
- CountryAAH:
Comprehensive import regulations of Austria. Covers import prohibitions and special documentation requirements for a list of prohibited items.
The production of meat and dairy products accounts
for just over half of agricultural production. The most
important crops are maize, wheat and barley and sugar
beets. Grazing land occupies a larger portion of
agricultural land than the cultivated land.
Large parts of agriculture are still small family
farms, even though the trend is that agriculture is
merged into larger units. For Austria defense and
foreign policy, please check
relationshipsplus.

Like other industrial nations, Austria has heavily
subsidized its agriculture. EU membership has meant
reduced subsidies for the country's farmers and
increased competition from other countries. To assert
themselves, Austrian farmers have, among other things,
invested in organic farming. One fifth of the land used
is used for organic farming, not least livestock
farming.
Almost half of Austria is covered by forest. The
forestry industry is economically important and supplies
the paper and wood products industry with raw materials.
Much of the forest is privately owned.
FACTS - AGRICULTURE
Agriculture's share of GDP
1.2 percent (2018)
Percentage of land used for agriculture
32.4 percent (2016)
2017
December
Kurz: The government should counter anti-Semitism
December 20
In a speech to Parliament, the country's new Chancellor Kurz says his
government should give priority to reducing the immigration of paperless
refugees to Austria and to strengthening the guarding of the EU's external
borders. Kurz also talks about Austria's responsibility to remember its role as
part of Nazi Germany during World War II and that the government will work to
counter anti-Semitism.
Right-wing extremist FPÖ in office
December 16th
The Conservative Party ÖVP forms a coalition government with the right-wing
FPÖ. New Chancellor of the Exchequer will be ÖVP leader Sebastian Kurz, 31, who
was foreign minister in the outgoing government. FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian
Strache becomes Vice Chancellor. The FPÖ, which went strong and became the third
largest party in the October 2017 elections, is also given the important posts
as Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defense. Karin Kneissl, who is
appointed new Foreign Minister, is not a member of the FPÖ but is nominated by
them. ÖVP politician Hartwig Lögen becomes finance minister. The opposition
expresses strong concern that FPÖ, through the Ministry of the Interior, will
gain control of both the police and the security services. The bipartisan
government gets approved by the president and sworn in. Around 6,000 people are
demonstrating in central Vienna against the new government.
October
ÖVP wins in the Austrian elections
15 October
Young Sebastian Kurz and his conservative party ÖVP receive just over 31
percent of the vote in the election and 62 seats. The right-wing extremist FPÖ
is also moving forward, receiving close to 26 percent of the vote and 51 seats,
which is close to the record from 1999. SPÖ managed to take home second place
with 26.9 percent of the votes and 52 seats.
September
FPÖ presents election programs
September 13
The FPÖ hopes that its plans to cut support for migrants, reduce immigration
and fight against Islamism will help the party get into office after the October
15 parliamentary elections. Neither the Social Democrats nor conservative ÖVP
have said no to a government cooperation with the FPÖ. The party has also stood
for an EU hostile line, but before the election it has toned down its opposition
to be able to gain wider support among the Austrians, where many are stated to
want the country to remain in the EU.
ÖVP conducts opinion polls
September 8
ÖVP leads by about 33 percent in the polls before the parliamentary elections
on October 15, while SPÖ and FPÖ both gather about 25 percent of the electorate.
July
Hamas member gets lifetime
July 24
A Palestinian suspected of being a member of the Islamist group Hamas is
sentenced to life imprisonment for planning attacks against Jews in Israel. The
27-year-old has been incarcerated since being arrested in an asylum-seeking
center in July 2016. He is convicted of contacting Palestinians in Israel via
social media and ordering them to kill Jews in Jerusalem.
Visits by Turkish minister are stopped
July 10
Austria stops Turkey's Economy Minister Nihat Zeibekci from entering the
country to attend a manifesto with the aim of marking the one-year anniversary
of the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.
Vienna is trying to settle the dispute with Italy
July 6
The Austrian government fades the rhetoric of plans to deploy troops at the
border with Italy to stop any possible refugee stream from the south. The
Minister of Defense says that no troop movement is not relevant and that it is
only an emergency plan in case the refugee stream would be too large.
Military ready to stop refugee stream from Italy
July 4th
Diplomatic relations with Italy are strained when the Vienna government
announces that 750 Austrian soldiers are on standby to help control the refugee
flow from Italy across the Brenner Pass to Austria if necessary. Four armored
vehicles have been deployed near Innsbruck.
May
New election decision
May 16
Chancellor Christian Kern announces that elections will be held in October,
one year in advance. The decision comes after a long period of disagreement
between the two government parties SPÖ and ÖVP about what policy the government
should follow and after the ÖVP's new leader Sebastian Kurz has demanded a new
election.
New leader of ÖVP
May 14
The only 30-year-old Sebastian Kurz is elected new party leader for ÖVP since
Reinhold Mitterlehner resigned a few days earlier. Kurz announces after his
entry that he wants a new election to be held and that he will address this with
Chancellor Christian Kern.
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