Government of Austria

Nomination

Since the 1929 reform of the Austrian Constitution , all members of the Federal Government are appointed by the Austrian Federal President (according to Article 70 of the Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz (B-VG) [1] ), who nevertheless has to seek a consensus the National Council parliament, since a vote of no confidence would immediately enforce their dismissal. In the run-up to the leader of the strongest political party, who ran as „chancellor candidate“ in the parliamentary election, is asked to become a Federal Chancellor; there are exceptions in the past. The appointments of the ministers take place at the suggestion of the Chancellor, though the President is permitted to withhold his or her approval. Likewise, the President may dismiss the Chancellor and / or the whole government at any time. However, a new government must be formed by the parties that control parliament.

Functioning

The government is convened for frequently scheduled meetings. When formally convened as such, the government is termed the Council of Ministers ( German : Ministerrat ), which is equivalent to the word “ cabinet „. The Chancellor presides over cabinet meetings as first among equalswithout decisional authority, regardless of his right of proposal concerning the appointment of the Government by the President. The cabinet adopts resolutions in the presence of at least half of its members and, according to the ruling of the Austrian Constitutional Court, unanimously – in particular the introduction of bills to the National Council. Each Federal ministre est responsible for his or her own ministry, and May be supported by one or more state secretaries (junior Ministers), aussi Who Participate in the cabinet’s meetings. State secretaries are not considered members of the government, and have no right to vote during cabinet meetings.

Current government

The incumbent government of Austria is a coalition government formed by the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). It was appointed on 18 December 2017 by President Alexander Van der Bellen .

Historical

First Republic

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy , the provisional national assembly of Germany Austria on 30 October 1918 elected a State Council ( Staatsrat ) executive, which also appointed a state government with the Social Democratic politician Karl Renner as head of the State Chancellery. The Renner ministry was made up of representatives of the three main political parties-Social Democrats, the Christian Social Party (CS) and German Nationalists ( Greater Germans ) -according to the Proporz doctrine. As acting executive body it remained in office until the Constitutional Assembly of theAustrian First Republic on 15 March 1919 elected Renner’s second cabinet, a coalition government of Social Democratic and Christian Social Ministers.

State Chancellor Renner had signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , after which his firm retired en bloc. Re-elected by the Constitutional Assembly on 17 October 1919, his third cabinet was finally overturned with the break-up of the SPÖ-CS coalition on July 7, 1920. Renner was succeeded by the Christian Social politician Mayr Michael , who with the beginning of the Austria Constitution on 10 November 1920 became first Federal Chancellor of Austria. Mayr and his successors proceeded with the support of the Christian Social Party and the Greater German Nationalists, while the Social Democrats remained in opposition.

From 5 March 1933 onwards, the Christian Social Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß kept on ruling by the National Council parliament. In the course of the Austrian Civil War he brought down the opposition and on May 1, 1934 implemented the Federal State of Austria authoritarian . All parties were banned, except for the Fatherland’s Front supporting Dollfuß ‚ Austrofascist Government. The Federal Government discontinued with the Anschlussincorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany on March 13, 1938.

Second Republic

On 27 April 1945 a provisional Austrian national unity government , again under Chancellor State Karl Renner, declared the Anschluss null and void. It prepared the elections to the Austrian National Council held on 25 November. On 20 December 1945, the Austrian Constitution was officially re-enacted, with ÖVP founder Leopold Figl forming the first post-war Federal Government.

List of cabinets since 1945:

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