VIENNA. The new ÖVP chairman and future chancellor Karl Nehammer is restructuring the ÖVP government team, with new heads coming in several core departments.
The Kurz era in the ÖVP is over. Turquoise instead of black remains the party color, but the federal party executive made everything new in its meeting on Friday. The previous Minister of the Interior, Karl Nehammer the party leader and the Federal President are proposed as Chancellor, new heads are arriving in several core departments. Significant: The renovation was not announced by Nehammer, but by the Styrian Governor Hermann Schützenhöfer. The opposition is calling for new elections.
In the Ministry of the Interior, Nehammer is succeeded by Gerhard Karner from Lower Austria, while the financial agendas are taken over by Magnus Brunner, Vorarlberg and current State Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure. The Styrian University Rector Martin Polaschek replaces Education Minister Heinz Faßmann. Interim Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg returns to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As State Secretary, Nehammer brings the federal head of the Young ÖVP, Claudia Plakolm, to the Federal Chancellery.
Nehammer, anchored in the ÖAAB, was impressed by the “great honor” after the deliberations in the party’s Political Academy in Vienna-Meidling, as he was unanimously nominated for the top post. Leading the ÖVP is a privilege, because it makes “politics for Austrians and people who live in Austria,” he stressed a formulation by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen that also includes non-citizens. This is expected to be inaugurated by the new government team on Monday. Over the weekend, the head of state will hold intensive one-on-one talks with all nominated new ministers. The Hofburg does not announce the exact dates. Van der Bellen will address the population once again this evening via TV address.
Nehammer was full of praise for his predecessor Sebastian Kurz, who had announced his complete withdrawal from politics on Thursday after leaving as Chancellor due to ongoing corruption investigations. He had achieved an incredible amount and turned the ÖVP into a people’s party again. Nehammer does not want to change the briefly tailored party statute with strong right of intervention for the federal party leader, but does rebuild the cabinet in the Federal Chancellery. The basic values of responsibility, solidarity and freedom are important to him, but he also wants to stay in line with asylum, migration and security, according to the future ÖVP chairman.
Unsurprisingly, the tenor of the personalities among the black state parties was consistently joyful, as they had an important say. Nehammer has been recognized by the bank as the right person for the job. There was also joy with regard to the new members of the government, because here, too, attention was paid to a certain balance among the countries.
Vice Chancellor and Greens boss Werner Kogler was also satisfied with the repositioning of the ÖVP. He affirmed that he and other Greens had a “very good basis for discussion” with Nehammer – although it is well known that there are “different opinions” on migration issues. Kogler sees no reason to renegotiate the government program now. The Greens are “responsible and for stability in the government”.
The opposition, on the other hand, demanded new elections in view of the turbulence in the ÖVP and the reshuffle of the government. For FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl there is “no way around it”. The ÖVP is now trying “in a kind of emergency operation to remove all the turquoise cells from the People’s Party”, but will not get away with its “broad-based laying of children”. NEOS party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger also advocated new elections in the coming year, and SPÖ vice club leader Jörg Leichtfried emphasized: “If this government can no longer work together and a ruling party ends the coalition, the SPÖ is in any case ready for new elections.”
