Parlamentarische Klubs

Parliamentary Groups (parlamentarische Klubs), associations of members of parliament of the same political tendencies (usually from the same party). These groups not only make up the membership of the parliamentary committees, in which they are represented in proportion to their strength on the floor of the National Council, they are also the chief fora in which decisions are prepared and day-to-day parliamentary work is done. Within each parliamentary group the fields of responsibility are informally divided according to the professional qualifications of the members. The minimum number of members a parliamentary party needs to attain the official status of "parlamentarischer Klub" is five. Since 1963 all parliamentary groups have been subsidised (basic amount and increment according to the size of the group, in 1990 the total amount was ATS 66.9 million). At the end of the 19^th century political mass parties developed and with them parliamentary groups emerged. Gradually the members of parliament from each party have become subject to party whips ("party discipline", in some cases even the obligation to vote according to their party's policy, even though they exercise what is formally called a "free mandate"). In this way political positions and the outcome of parliamentary votes have become increasingly predictable; independent members of parliament ("renegades") are rare. In 1993, for the first time ever, a group (Liberales Forum/Liberal Forum) split off from an established party (FPÖ - Austrian Freedom Party). Since the 1980s party discipline has been somewhat more relaxed.