Chancellor of Austria
The chancellor of Austria, officially the federal chancellor the Republic of Austria (German: Bundeskanzler der Republik Österreich), is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position is functionally equivalent to Prime Minister in a parliamentary system of government.
This article is about the office. For a list of Austrian chancellors, see List of chancellors of Austria.Chancellor of Republic of Austria
Mr Chancellor
His Excellency (diplomatic)
Cabinet
European Council
National Security Council
No fixed term
30 October 1918
€306,446 annually
Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), who was sworn in on 6 December 2021 following the resignations of Sebastian Kurz and Alexander Schallenberg, of the same party, as party leader and Chancellor. All three leaders formed a government with the Green Party, the first coalition between these two parties at the federal level. Brigitte Bierlein was the Second Republic's first Kanzlerin, forming a nonpartisan caretaker government between a vote of no confidence in Kurz's first government in June 2019 and the formation of his second in January 2020.[1]
The chancellor's place in Austria's political system[edit]
Austria's chancellor chairs and leads the cabinet, which is composed of the chancellor, the vice chancellor and the ministers. Together with the president, who is head of state, the cabinet forms the country's executive branch leadership.
Austria is a parliamentary republic, the system of government in which real power is vested in the head of government. However, in Austria most executive actions of great extent can only be exercised by the president, upon advice or with the countersignature of the chancellor or a specific minister. Therefore the chancellor often requires the president's consent to implement greater decisions. Neither the ministers nor the vice chancellor report to the chancellor.
In legislature, the chancellor's power depends on the size of their affiliated parliamentary group. In case of a coalition cabinet, the chancellor commonly is the leader of the party most represented in the National Council, with the leader of the party able to grant a majority, usually serving as the vice chancellor.
The first Austrian sovereign head of government was the State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, a position only held by Klemens von Metternich. The office was later renamed to Minister-President of the Austrian Empire and remained from there on until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. The first head of government after the monarchy was the State Chancellor of German-Austria, an office again only held by one person; Karl Renner. After allied powers declined a union between Austria and Germany, the office was renamed to just State Chancellor of Austria and later changed to Federal Chancellor, which remained the position's final form until present day.
The official residence and executive office of the chancellor is the chancellery, which is located at the Ballhausplatz in the center of Vienna. Both the chancellor as well as the cabinet are appointed by the president and can be dismissed by the president.
The current officeholder is Karl Nehammer, who was sworn in as chancellor on 6 December 2021 by President Alexander Van der Bellen.
Appointment[edit]
The Chancellor is appointed and sworn in by the President.[6] In theory, the President can appoint anyone eligible to be elected to the National Council, essentially meaning any Austrian national over the age of 18.[7] In practice, a Chancellor is unable to govern without the confidence of the National Council. For this reason, the Chancellor usually is the leader of the largest party in the National Council, or the senior partner in a coalition government. A notable exception to this occurred after the 1999 election. The Freedom Party won the most seats and went into coalition with the People's Party. While this would have normally made Freedom Party leader Jörg Haider Chancellor, he was deemed too controversial to be a member of the Cabinet, let alone Chancellor. He thus stepped aside in favour of People's Party leader Wolfgang Schüssel.
There are no term limits for the Chancellor. As a matter of constitutional convention, the Chancellor usually offers their resignation to the President upon dissolution of the National Council. The President usually declines the offer of resignation and directs the Chancellor and the cabinet to operate as a caretaker government until a new National Council is in session and a new majority leader has emerged. In fact, the constitution expressly encourages the President to use a Chancellor as the interim successor.[8]
A Chancellor is typically appointed or dismissed together with all of the ministers, which means the whole government. Technically, the President can only appoint ministers on advice of the Chancellor, so the Chancellor is appointed first. Having been sworn in, the Chancellor presents the President with a list of ministers; they will usually have been installed just minutes later. Neither Chancellors nor ministers need to be confirmed by either house of parliament; the appointees are fully capable of discharging the functions of their respective offices immediately after having been sworn in.[9]
The National Council can force the President to dismiss a Chancellor or a minister through a vote of no confidence. The President is constitutionally required to dismiss a cabinet member the National Council declares it wants gone.[10] Opposition parties will sometimes table votes of no confidence against ministers, and occasionally whole cabinets, in order to demonstrate criticism; these votes had not been expected to pass. The first successful vote of no confidence in Austrian federal politics took place in May 2019 when Sebastian Kurz was ousted as Chancellor.[11][12]
The Chancellor chairs the meetings of the cabinet. The constitution does not vest the Chancellor with the authority to issue directions to ministers; it characterizes his or her role in the cabinet as that of a primus inter pares.[13] The power of the office to set policy derives partly from its inherent prestige, partly from the fact that the President is required to dismiss ministers the Chancellor requests removed,[9] and partly from the Chancellor's position of leadership in the party or coalition controlling the National Council.
Most articles of the constitution that mention the office of Chancellor are tasking the incumbent with notarizing decisions by the President or by various constitutional bodies, with ensuring that these decisions are duly announced to the general public, or with acting as an intermediary between various branches of government. In particular, the Chancellor
The Chancellor also convenes the Federal Assembly if the National Council moves to have the President removed from office,[17] or if the National Council moves to lift the immunity of the President from criminal prosecution.[21] In the former case, the Federal Assembly votes on whether to allow a referendum on the matter. In the latter case, the assent of the Federal Assembly is required for the President's immunity to be rescinded.
Finally, the Chancellor becomes Acting President if the President is incapacitated. However, if the President remains incapacitated beyond twenty days or has died, the role of Acting President is passed on to the three Presidents of the National Council.[22]
