!!!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%%sup 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 (FPOe - Austrian Freedom Party). Since the 
1980s party discipline has been somewhat more relaxed.


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