Builders feel the competition from abroad

Austrian builders are starting to feel the pressure of competition from abroad.

Since the opening of the domestic market to firms from EU countries more and more foreign firms are setting up business in Austria.

Spokeswoman for the builders Maria Epple said: “It is not just the lower wage costs but also the fact that foreign firms tend to bring in their own building materials which to be honest would not have been allowed for usage in Austria. It’s making us uncompetitive in our own country.”

She said that Austrian firms were finding it harder and harder to get contracts.

She added that if he carried on like this coupled with the fact that wage costs were rising in Austria then building firms would start to go out of business.