A Trip Through Austrian Politics

On the 5th of March 2018 the class 4EAK went on an excursion to the Austrian Parliament with Professor Gleiss and Professor Huber. Afterwards they had a meeting with Nico Marchetti from the Austrian People´s Party (ÖVP), who told the class a little bit about his past and his background.

“Hofburg”

First of all we went to the Imperial Palace where we got a lot of information about the history of the Austrian Parliament. The most interesting part was the time after the Second World War when everything was in ruins. 40 % of the parliament was destroyed. The people tried to build up everything again, but they didn’t care so much about the quality of the infrastructure, because they simply lacked the money. This leads to many problems for example water damage and mold. Because of these issues the Austrian parties decided to take action. While the historic building of our parliament gets renovated, the member of the parliament have moved into the “Hofburg” and continue their work there.
Subsequently we entered the hall of the 183 representatives, where we had a discussion about democracy and the right to vote freely. The tour guide talked about the importance of the suffrage, because it isn’t self-evident to have to right to vote for a political party of your choice.

“ÖVP-Klub”

Matthias Gagula organized a meeting with the youngest member of the national council Nico Marchetti. First of all, he told the class about his career advancement from being a school representative to working as a bank employee to presently working as a member of the national council. After the class listened carefully the students were allowed to ask him any questions about his career and personal life. At the end the class took a picture with Nico Marchetti.

In conclusion, it was an interesting and insightful excursion about how our political system works.