EESC Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law Group concludes a visit to Austria

Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law

On 19-20 March 2025, the Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law (FRRL) Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) concluded a two-day visit to Vienna.

This visit gave the opportunity to the group of six EESC Members to hear civil society representatives about key trends in Austria concerning fundamental rights of social partners, freedoms of association and assembly, freedom of expression (including media freedom), the right to non-discrimination, and the rule of law.

Participants in the discussions emphasised:

  • The strength of Austria’s institutionalised social partnership based on consensus, alongside emerging economic and social challenges that demand adaptability.
  • The generally strong protection of freedom of association and assembly, the positive step of establishing an independent police oversight body, but also challenges for CSOs in some sectors, such as the environment, regarding the right to protest and to participate in public affairs.
  • The solidity of anti-discrimination institutions, but also issues with enforcement in the context of federalism, and important challenges with regards to ethnic and religious discrimination, the treatment of undocumented migrant workers, gender inequality relating to equal pay and labour market inclusion, and the rights of persons with disabilities.
  • Increasing financial and political pressure on the Public Service Media and the relatively small private media market, notably because on the structural dependence of media on public subsidies, and increased physical and legal pressure on journalists.
  • Delays in administrative proceedings, government influence on judicial appointments, ongoing judicial staff shortages despite some progress, high civil legal costs, growing bureaucracy from EU and national laws, a declining corruption perception ranking, overcrowded prisons in Vienna, and successful digitalisation in penal procedures.

The EESC delegation also discussed with the representation of the European Commission and the authorities of Austria.

A report will be issued in the coming months.

The visit was the second one of the FRRL Group to Austria, following a visit in June 2019 (report).

Background

The EESC established in 2018 a Group on Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law (FRRL Group), which is tasked to provide a forum for European civil society organisations to meet and discuss fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. The FRRL Group promotes respect for the European values listed in Article 2 TEU by raising awareness of and assessing the state of play of these values in the Member States and allowing for the exchange of good practices. To this end, the FRRL Group hosts hearings, conferences, and carries out country visits with the aim of identifying trends in Europe concerning fundamental rights and the rule of law, inasmuch as they develop in national contexts.

Country visit reports are issued along with the observations of the authorities, a few months after the visits (they can be accessed here). The visit to Austria was the sixth one of the second cycle of visits of the FRRL Group to all EU Member States. The Report synthesising the first cycle of country visits (2018-2024) led in 2018-2019,  2020-2021, 2022, and 2023-2024 are available.

For more information about the EESC FRRL Group methodology, see this document.

The delegation of the FRRL Group to Austria was composed of: