It was a hectic hour for the head of the VP and Chancellor Karl Nehammer: on Monday he phoned party leaders into the night to arrange the successor to Minister of Agriculture Elisabeth Köstinger and Minister of Economics Margarete Schramböck. The timing of the resignations caught many by surprise.
The solution was in place that night, Nehammer invited to the presentation of his new team at the political academy of the People’s Party at 1 p.m. yesterday. The new ones, who were approved by the VP board of directors by circular resolution, were not there yet, but the new party logo was emblazoned in the background – the People’s Party has lost the “new” in the name.
Video: Is this the end of the Turkish ÖVP? Zeit im Bild editor-in-chief Matthias Schrom analyzed.
“When the time comes”
Nehammer did not want to explicitly confirm that Köstinger’s resignation a few days before the Turkish party congress and the resulting departure of Schramböck had taken him by surprise. However, he said that there were agreements with the ministers that Kurz had brought into the government that they themselves determine the time of their withdrawal from politics. “When the time comes, I will be informed,” was the agreement.
He had made plans for the successor within the party in advance, “that’s why there will be a replacement quickly,” said Nehammer.
Both ministries are being redistributed: As already reported, Schramböck’s work agendas are moving to Economics Minister Martin Kocher, whom the Chancellor also sees as a “super minister”. Köstinger’s department will be taken over by Norbert Totschnig, a farmer’s coordinator from Tyrol, and the remaining agendas from the two departments will be divided between three state secretariats: Susanne Kraus-Winkler for tourism and Florian Tursky for digitization will be added, and State Secretary Claudia Plakolm will be given Köstinger’s civilian service agenda.
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will swear in the new ministers and state secretaries today after they were presented at the Hofburg yesterday. He informed his coalition partner immediately and obtained approval for the castling, according to Nehammer – due to the “trustful relationship” with the Greens, this happened very quickly.
Nehammer justified the fact that the agendas of two ministers were taken over by men with the “hardness, malice and underhandedness” that had happened to the resigning ministers, that had to stop if more women were wanted in politics. Nehammer acknowledged with a smile that black federal and state logic is said to have played a role in the occupations. When asked whether he had used the statute changed by his predecessor Sebastian Kurz, including the power of attorney for the VP boss, he said: “Anyone who needs the statute or relies on it has already lost.”
Stelzer is pleased
Yesterday, Upper Austria’s governor Thomas Stelzer (VP) was pleased with the quick succession plan. Especially in difficult times like the present one, a state-supporting party should “not get bogged down in personnel discussions”. The bundling of business and work agendas is “of great importance, especially for the economic and industrial state of Upper Austria”. The upgrading of Claudia Plakolm’s State Secretariat is also very pleasing.
The opposition was less pleased. SPÖ and FPÖ renewed their demands for new elections. SP social spokesman Josef Muchitsch was particularly upset by the merging of work and business. FP boss Herbert Kickl spoke of an “embarrassing prolongation of the suffering”, but you probably no longer have to remember the names of the newcomers.
Neos General Secretary Douglas Hoyos accused Nehammer of poorly filling ministerial posts in the past (Gerhard Karner, Martin Polaschek).
Source: Nachrichten
