Austria is a relatively new entrant to the European Union, having gained membership, along with Sweden and Finland, in 1995. Since then the steady opening of its domestic market, and the privatisation and deregulation of its industry, have provided a stream of work for the country’s lawyers.
The Austrian economy remained buoyant throughout the 1990s, but the country, like most others in Europe, has suffered from the global slowdown in corporate activity in the past two years. Annual GDP growth has shrunk from an average 2% throughout the 1990s to a predicted 0.7% in 2002.
