Austrian Federal Government

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The Austrian Federal Government (German: Österreichische Bundesregierung) is a collective body of the highest-ranking officers of the Austrian executive branch. It consists of the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor and the other federal ministers of the Austrian cabinet. Together with the President, the Government forms the supreme federal authority.

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 with the National Council parliament, since a vote of no confidence would immediately enforce their dismissal. In practical terms usually the leader of the strongest political party, who ran as "chancellor candidate" in the parliamentary election, is asked to become Federal Chancellor; although there have been exceptions in the past. The nominations of the ministers takes place at the suggestion of the Chancellor, notwithstanding the President is able to withhold his approval.

Likewise, the President is able to dismiss the Chancellor or the Austrian cabinet as a whole at any time — nevertheless with due regard to the majorities in parliament to build a new government.

Functioning

Cabinet room in the Austrian Chancellery

The Chancellor presides over the cabinet meetings as primus inter pares without decisional authority, regardless of his right of proposal concerning the appointment of the government's members by the President. The cabinet assembly (Ministerrat) 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 minister is also responsible for his or her own ministry and may be supported by one or more state secretaries, who also participate in the cabinet's meetings. They are however not considered Government members and have no right to vote in the proceedings.

Current cabinet

See also: Faymann cabinet

The incumbent Austrian cabinet is a coalition government formed by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). It was appointed on 2 December 2008 by President Heinz Fischer (SPÖ) upon the 2008 legislative lection. The current members are:

Office	Holder	Party
Federal Chancellor Federal Minister for Women and Civil Service in the Federal Chancellery	Werner Faymann Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek	SPÖ
Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Vice-Chancellor of Austria	Michael Spindelegger	ÖVP
Federal Minister of Finance	Maria Fekter	ÖVP
Federal Minister of Health	Alois Stöger	SPÖ
Federal Minister for the Interior	Johanna Mikl-Leitner	ÖVP
Federal Minister of Justice	Beatrix Karl	ÖVP
Federal Minister of National Defence and Sport	Gerald Klug	SPÖ
Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forests, Environment and Water Management	Nikolaus Berlakovich	ÖVP
Federal Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection	Rudolf Hundstorfer	SPÖ
Federal Minister of Education, Arts and Culture	Claudia Schmied	SPÖ
Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology	Doris Bures	SPÖ
Federal Minister of Economy, Family and Youth	Reinhold Mitterlehner	ÖVP
Federal Minister of Science and Research	Karlheinz Töchterle	None

Historical

First Republic

See also: List of Chancellors of Austria

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the provisional national assembly of German Austria on 30 October 1918 elected a State Council (Staatsrat) executive, which itself appointed a state government with the Social Democratic politician Karl Renner as head of the State Chancellery. The Renner ministry was composed 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 the Austrian 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, whereafter his cabinet retired en bloc. Re-elected by the Constitutional Assembly on 17 October 1919, his third cabinet finally was overturned with the break-up of the SPÖ-CS coalition on 7 July 1920. Renner was succeeded by the Christian Social politician Michael Mayr, who with the commencement 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 suppression of the National Council parliament. In the course of the Austrian Civil War he brought down the opposition and on 1 May 1934 implemented the authoritarian Federal State of Austria. All parties were banned, except for the Fatherland's Front supporting Dollfuß' Austrofascist government. The Federal Government discontinued with the Anschluss incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany on 13 March 1938.

Second Republic

On 27 April 1945 an provisional Austrian national unity government, again under a State Chancellor Karl Renner, declared the Anschluss null and void. It prepared the 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:

Governments of Austria
			Name of Government	Duration of Government	Chancellor	Vice-Chancellor	Parties Involved
			Renner	April 27, 1945–December 20, 1945	Karl Renner1	N/A	ÖVP, SPÖ, KPÖ
			Figl I	December 20, 1945–November 8, 1949	Leopold Figl (ÖVP)	Adolf Schärf (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ, KPÖ
			Figl II	November 8, 1949–October 28, 1952	Leopold Figl (ÖVP)	Adolf Schärf (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Figl III	October 28, 1952–April 2, 1953	Leopold Figl (ÖVP)	Adolf Schärf (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Raab I	April 2, 1953–June 29, 1956	Julius Raab (ÖVP)	Adolf Schärf (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Raab II	June 29, 1956–July 16, 1959	Julius Raab (ÖVP)	Adolf Schärf (SPÖ), Bruno Pittermann (SPÖ)²	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Raab III	July 16, 1959–November 3, 1960	Julius Raab (ÖVP)	Bruno Pittermann (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Raab IV	November 3, 1960–April 11, 1961	Julius Raab (ÖVP)	Bruno Pittermann (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Gorbach I	April 11, 1961–March 27, 1963	Alfons Gorbach (ÖVP)	Bruno Pittermann (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Gorbach II	March 27, 1963–April 2, 1964	Alfons Gorbach (ÖVP)	Bruno Pittermann (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Klaus I	April 2, 1964–April 19, 1966	Josef Klaus (ÖVP)	Bruno Pittermann (SPÖ)	ÖVP, SPÖ
			Klaus II	April 19, 1966–April 21, 1970	Josef Klaus (ÖVP)	Fritz Bock (ÖVP), Hermann Withalm (ÖVP)³	ÖVP
			Kreisky I	April 21, 1970–November 4, 1971	Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ)	Rudolf Häuser (SPÖ)	SPÖ
			Kreisky II	November 4, 1971–October 28, 1975	Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ)	Rudolf Häuser (SPÖ)	SPÖ
			Kreisky III	October 28, 1975–June 5, 1979	Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ)	Rudolf Häuser (SPÖ), Hannes Androsch (SPÖ)4	SPÖ
			Kreisky IV	June 5, 1979–May 24, 1983	Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ)	Hannes Androsch (SPÖ), Fred Sinowatz (SPÖ)5	SPÖ
			Sinowatz	May 24, 1983–June 16, 1986	Fred Sinowatz (SPÖ)	Norbert Steger (FPÖ)	SPÖ, FPÖ
			Vranitzky I	June 16, 1986–January 21, 1987	Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ)	Norbert Steger (FPÖ)	SPÖ, FPÖ
			Vranitzky II	January 21, 1987–December 17, 1990	Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ)	Alois Mock (ÖVP), Josef Riegler (ÖVP)6	SPÖ, ÖVP
			Vranitzky III	December 17, 1990–November 29, 1994	Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ)	Josef Riegler (ÖVP), Erhard Busek (ÖVP)7	SPÖ, ÖVP
			Vranitzky IV	November 29, 1994–March 12, 1996	Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ)	Erhard Busek (ÖVP), Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP)8	SPÖ, ÖVP
			Vranitzky V	March 12, 1996–January 28, 1997	Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ)	Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP)	SPÖ, ÖVP
			Klima	January 28, 1997–February 4, 2000	Viktor Klima (SPÖ)	Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP)	SPÖ, ÖVP
			Schüssel I	February 4, 2000–February 28, 2003	Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP)	Susanne Riess-Passer (FPÖ)	ÖVP, FPÖ
			Schüssel II	February 28, 2003–11 January 2007	Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP)	Herbert Haupt (FPÖ), Hubert Gorbach (FPÖ/BZÖ)9	ÖVP, FPÖ, BZÖ
			Gusenbauer	11 January 2007–2 December 2008	Alfred Gusenbauer (SPÖ)	Wilhelm Molterer (ÖVP)	SPÖ, ÖVP
			Faymann	2 December 2008–present	Werner Faymann (SPÖ)	Josef Pröll (ÖVP)	SPÖ, ÖVP
Notes 1) Karl Renner acted only as a supervisor of the provisional government 2) As Adolf Schärf was elected as the President of Austria, Bruno Pittermann acted as the vice-chancellor from May 22, 1957. 3) From January 19, 1968 afterwards, Hermann Withalm acted as the vice-chancellor. 4) Rudolf Häuser acted as the vice-chancellor until September 30, 1976. From October 1, 1976, Hannes Androsch acted as the vice-chancellor. 5) Fred Sinowatz acted as the vice-chancellor from January 20, 1981. 6) Until April 24, 1989, Alois Mock acted as the vice-chancellor. From April 24, 1989, Josef Riegler acted as the vice-chancellor. 7) From July 2, 1991, Erhard Busek acted as the vice-chancellor. 8) From May 4, 1995, Wolfgang Schüssel acted as the vice-chancellor. 9) Until October 20, 2003, Herbert Haupt acted as the vice-chancellor. From October 21, 2003, Hubert Gorbach acted as the vice-chancellor. Until April 17, 2005, Gorbach's party affiliation was FPÖ, then BZÖ.
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	Traditional colours
	Austrian People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP)
	Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ), until 1991: Socialist Party of Austria
	Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, KPÖ)
	Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ)
	Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ)
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Source: Kanzler und Regierungen seit 1945. Federal Chancellery of Austria Web Site. Vienna, Federal Chancellery of Austria 2006. German English

External links

• Austrian Federal Government