Austria faces a new redevelopment of government, the second so far as legislature.
The abandonment of the former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz policy has left the Popular Party (ÖVP) outflower who leads the coalition with the Greens, thus causing a new turn in roulette.
“The Chancellery and the Presidency of the Party must be in the hands of the same person,” has been the argument for which Kurz’s successor in the Foreign Ministry, Alexander Schallenberg, presented last night.
Schallenberg, a diplomat of profession, had no interest in betting on the Presidency of the Party.
He did not have the until now Minister of Interior, Karl Nehammer, the man elected this Friday by the ÖVP executive to assume the reins of the party and therefore of the coalition of government.
Nehammer should still swear the position of him before the head of state, Alexander van der Bellen, and his leadership in ÖVP confirmed at a party congress.
“I have been designated today unanimously from the direction of ÖVP as president of the Party and, therefore, as a candidate for Chancellor’s position,” Nehammer told the press.
“I am very grateful, it is an honor and a privilege that I did not expect,” he added.
The 49-year-old politician also announced an important remodeling of the cabinet.
Among the ministers who will be affected by this remodeling is the so far chancellor.
Schallenberg will return to exteriors, after just two months at the Government Headquarters, and Finance, Gernot Blümel, an intimate Kurz that leaves the portfolio voluntarily.
Unlike it, Nehammer has a wide network of support in ÖVP.
Before assuming the position of Minister of the Interior, Nehammer was Secretary General of the ÖVP and belongs to the influential Regional Association of Lower Austria.
He had, among others, with the support of the influential minister of Lower Austria, Johana Mikl-Leiynr, the first one who proposed her candidacy for this new stage.
Former Professional Soldier with Lieutenant Range and for a long time official in the game, Nehammer is overlooked in the tough line of ÖVP.
He is opposite, as Kurz, migration, but more radical when this comes from Muslim countries.
Nehammer, however, was not part of the nearest circle of the former Chancellor Kurz.
An advantage for him, because ÖVP leaders are clearly trying to make a clear cut with the Kurz era.
One of its main projects as Minister of the Interior was the restructuring of the National Intelligence Agency, which had been criticized several times in recent years and also revealed deficiencies before the terrorist attack on November 2, 2020.
The Greens, with a very different position in this area, but less influential in decision-making because the minority party, have already ensured that they will not make inconveniences to the election of Nehammer.
According to the Politologist Thomas Hofer, the relationship of Nehammer with the greens is better than the one who had the predecessors of him.
The opposition parties have requested, however, new elections before the lack of stability in the Government Coalition, which since its arrival in power, in 2020, has been dotted by a power of power in the conservatives.
Karl Nehammer will become the fifth Austrian Chancellor who occupies this position since 2016. The date of its investiture has not yet been set.
