2026 Double budget 2027/2028: Marterbauer, Eibinger-Miedl and Schellhorn emphasise stability and planning security
Adapted parliamentary timetable enables budget decision before the summer
Immediately after taking office around a year ago, the Federal Government worked flat out to prepare the 2025/2026 double budget. This marked the start of the reorganisation of public finances. All three governing parties were aware that this major task had to be solved within the meaning of a joint effort and therefore succeeded in achieving a sensible mix of savings and higher tax income, growth and employment stimuli and an overall fair restructuring strategy.
One year on, it is clear that the consolidation volume in the 2025 Federal budget has been achieved in full. However, the reorganisation of the budget is a task for the whole of government. In addition to the federal government, the other regional authorities - provinces, municipalities and social insurance funds - also have a responsibility. With the new Stability Pact, which brings more transparency, another important agreement was reached last year on the path to healthy public finances. In addition, measures in the health, education and energy sectors are planned until the end of 2026 as part of the reform partnership.
For this reason, a double budget will also be drawn up for 2027 and 2028. The presidency of parliament presented an adapted timetable for this today, Thursday. Accordingly, the budget speech will take place on 10 June 2026. The decision on the double budget of the ÖVP-SPÖ-NEOS government is then scheduled for the beginning of July 2026.
One thing is clear: in view of the ongoing difficult conditions, the country continues to need stability and security. With a stable restructuring course, Austria remains on the desired path to achieve the target of a deficit of 3 per cent of GDP in 2028 and thus end the OD procedure, while also investing in strengthening our welfare state and supporting the economic recovery.
Markus Marterbauer, Minister of Finance:
"In order to continue the successful reorganisation of public finances with the help of the 2025/2026 double budget, we also want to draw up a double budget for 2027/2028. I also want to pursue the course we have set in the coming years in a calm, prudent and consistent manner. In view of the many challenges - including geopolitical ones - our country needs stability and security, and the sooner we set this secure and predictable course, the better it will be for our country. It is also important to support the slight economic upturn. We are reorganising the budget partly because we want to end the OD procedure, but also because we want to spend taxpayers' money on education and health rather than on interest payments. In order to achieve this, strict budget implementation and prudent planning must continue to be at the centre of the budget for the coming years."
Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, State Secretary for Finance:
"With the 2025/26 double budget, we have already initiated a turnaround in the federal budget. Our goal is to achieve the Maastricht criterion of a maximum deficit of 3% by 2028 and to stabilise public finances in the long term. Solid planning is crucial here. It therefore makes sense to draw up another double budget for 2027/28 as early as the spring. One thing is clear to me: Austria does not have a revenue problem, but an expenditure problem. That is why we need appropriate budget discipline and structural reforms in the coming years. This is how we will succeed in leading Austria back to the top internationally."
Sepp Schellhorn, State Secretary for Deregulation and Bureaucracy Reduction:
"Despite all the prophecies of doom, this Federal Government is showing that it works. The double budget stands for planning certainty, stability and our national tour de force on the way to a balanced budget. Now there can no longer be any barriers in the competition for the best structural reform ideas. If the federal states and municipalities show what they can do now, the whole of Austria will profit in the end."