Vienna as a municipality

The Federal Constitutional Act stipulates that every municipality in Austria must have three mandatory bodies, which are to be supported by an administrative apparatus.

The mandatory bodies to be established by every municipality are:

  • the municipal council (in Vienna: the City Council)
  • the municipal board (in Vienna: the City Senate)
  • the Mayor

A Municipal Council Office must be established to perform tasks of municipal administration. In Vienna, the City Administration assumes this role, while it also constitutes a body in its own right.

Based on the Vienna City Statutes, a number of other, non-mandatory bodies and offices have been established (i.e. bodies not stipulated by the Federal Constitutional Act). These include the Executive City Councillors, the committees and commissions of the City Council, the District Councils and the Vienna Appellate Senate.

The Vienna City Statutes ("Wiener Stadtverfassung", abbreviated WStV) serve as Vienna's municipal statutes. Their first section takes the form of a provincial law, while the second section – which defines the tasks and functions of Vienna as a federal province - has the status of a constitutional act at provincial level.

Contact for this page:
City of Vienna | Executive Office for General Matters
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