- The financial reconstruction of Austria and Hungary The
Economic and Financial Section consisted primarily of an
Economic Committee. It was founded at the Brussels Financial
Conference of 1920 which was attended by 39 States concerned
with the enormous task of analysing Europe’s post-war financial
disorder, and of finding ways to overcome it. The members of the
Committee were appointed not by their Governments but by the
Council of the League of Nations, and most of the ensuing
decisions and actions resulting in Europe’s financial
reconstruction were based on its findings. The Republic of
Austria, with its seven million inhabitants, soon ran into
serious economic and financial difficulty after its foundation
in 1919. During the first three years of its existence, huge
sums of public money intended for charitable purposes and other
causes had accomplished nothing in the way of reconstructing the
economy. In 1922, when Chancellor Seipel addressed the League of
Nations to request assistance, a detailed program