1925: The Federal Constitutional Amendment

The Federal Constitutional Law of 1920 was not fully completed by the constituent national assembly. The state and administrative reform of 1925 filled the remaining gaps, making Austria a truly federal state.

It dealt with the clarification of the distribution of competencies, the merger of the federal administration with the formerly autonomous administration and, as a result, the elimination of the duplication of the administration in the states (Länder) as well as the introduction of a uniform financial policy with the creation of an independent Court of Audit. It was thus a constitutional, financial and administrative reform, through which now state authorities could also be entrusted with federal affairs.

The Christian Social Chancellor Rudolf Ramek, whose personal commitment to this reform was huge, used it in mid-September of 1924 as a way of arranging with the League of Nations conditions for the premature termination of financial control.

It was a compromise between the far-reaching federalist tendencies of the Länder and the demand of the Greater German coalition partners for maintaining the existing central offices. The Social Democrats, because of Vienna, agreed despite their strong concerns against the control of the financial management of the Länder by a Federal Court of Auditors. This secured the required two-thirds majority.

The federal constitutional amendment was passed on July 30, 1925 and took effect on October 1, 1925.