Federal Government of Ender

The Federal Government of Ender was an Austrian Federal Government of the First Republic from December 4, 1930 to June 16, 1931 and was entrusted with the continuation of business until June 20, 1931.

prehistory

With the end of the Schober III federal government in autumn 1930, there was a crisis of confidence between the parties of the former civic bloc: the previous coalition parties, the Greater German People's Party (GDVP) and the Landbund für Österreich (LBd), accused Carl Vaugoin of ending as Vice Chancellor for party political reasons provoked the government and went into opposition. As a minority government, the new federal government of Vaugoin had to expect a vote of no confidence in parliament. In order to forestall this, she had Federal President Wilhelm Miklas dissolve the National Council and scheduled a new election for November 9, 1930 . The GDVP and the LBd ran for this jointly as a national economic bloc and regional union under the leadership of the former Federal Chancellor Johann Schober (hence also called "Schoberblock"). The Christian Social Party (CSP), however, tried to win the Heimwehr as a political ally. This was only partially successful, in some federal states it was able to run as the electoral party Christian Social Party and Home Guard, but in most of Austria the Home Guard stood for election with its own, newly created Home Bloc party .

The election winner was the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP), which achieved a relative majority with 72 of 165 seats, but had to go into opposition again for lack of coalition partners. Since the Schoberblock refused to belong to a government under a Chancellor Vaugoin, Vaugoin resigned on November 29, 1930. Meanwhile, President Miklas had already made contact with the Vorarlberg Governor Otto Ender and on the same day instructed him to form a government. Ender was able to reunite the civic bloc, and on December 4th the new federal government was sworn in.

Members

Office	Official	Political party
Chancellor	Otto Ender	CSP
Vice Chancellor	Johann Schober	without party membership
Federal Minister in the Federal Chancellery (entrusted with the technical management of internal affairs)	Franz Winkler (until June 16, 1931)	LBd
Federal Minister of Justice entrusted with the preliminary continuation of business	Hans Schürff (until May 30, 1931) Vice Chancellor Johann Schober (from May 30, 1931)	GDVP without party membership
Federal Minister for Education	Emmerich Czermak	CSP
Federal Minister for Social Administration entrusted with the provisional continuation of business	Josef Resch (until April 15, 1931) Federal Chancellor Otto Ender (from April 15, 1931)	CSP CSP
Federal Minister of Finance	Otto Juch	without party membership
Federal Minister for Agriculture and Forestry	Andreas Thaler (until March 18, 1931) Engelbert Dollfuß (from March 18, 1931)	CSP CSP
Federal Minister for Trade and Transport	Eduard Heinl	CSP
Federal Minister for the Army	Carl Vaugoin	CSP

Act

In the government statement, Ender emphasized that he wanted to conduct government business in a constitutional and legal manner, regardless of the Heimwehr's demands to the contrary. In view of the global economic crisis and pending financial policy issues, economic policy measures were in the foreground. The budget for 1931 had to be decided, but initially it was only a provisional solution. The financial equalization expired at the end of the year and a new financial equalization law had to be passed. A first government bill was presented on December 11, 1930, which provided for more veto rights of the federal government over tax laws of the states and would have changed the distribution key of the income to the disadvantage of Vienna. The SDAP severely criticized the bill. After negotiations with the Social Democrats, an agreement was reached on January 25, 1931 on the Financial Equalization Act, which was passed with the votes of the SDAP.

At the beginning of March 1931, the German Foreign Minister Julius Curtius visited Vienna, where an agreement was reached with him on the guidelines for a desired German-Austrian customs union . The plan was to be kept secret and not presented to the League of Nations until May ; due to an indiscretion it leaked to the press on March 17, 1931. The foreign policy consequences were far-reaching: France , Czechoslovakia and Italy undertook a joint demarche , and Austria was accused of violating the Geneva Protocol I. British Foreign Secretary Arthur Henderson brought the question before the League of Nations, where his proposal was accepted to ask the Permanent International Court of Justice for an opinion on whether the proposed customs union was compatible with the Treaty of St. Germain and the Geneva Protocol.

In April, the Federal Minister for Social Administration, Josef Resch , resigned after his proposals for reforming social security met with widespread rejection among workers and salaried employees. Federal Chancellor Ender was entrusted with the provisional continuation of the ministry's business.

On May 8, 1931, Chancellor Ender learned that the largest bank in the country, the Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe, was about to collapse. The loss was put at 140 million schillings . Due to its economic connections, a collapse of the bank would have meant the end of numerous industrial groups and thus a further increase in the number of unemployed. A run on the bank would also have had monetary consequences. The bank therefore had to be prevented from going bankrupt. After intensive negotiations, a plan was drawn up on how the bank was to be saved. The government wanted to take out a loan of ATS 150 million and to make 100 million available to the bank by purchasing shares in the bank and providing the bank with money to cover losses. Since the domestic depositors could not be reassured by this - they stormed the bank counters and withdrew considerable funds - the government decided on May 28, 1931 to also assume federal liability for loans from Credit-Anstalt.

Meanwhile, the state budget showed a growing deficit. The government decided to cut costs and to increase tariffs and tobacco prices. A proposed law that was supposed to cut civil servants' salaries by five percent was rejected by the GDVP, whose core constituency included civil servants. In order not to have to agree to this emergency measure, the Greater German Justice Minister Schürff resigned on May 30, 1931, and Vice Chancellor Schober was entrusted with the provisional continuation of the affairs of the Ministry of Justice. The Greater Germans were not expected to approve the draft law in parliament. At a meeting of stewards of the GDVP on June 2, it was discussed whether the party should better go into opposition.

In this critical for the reign that was Strafella affair currently playing: After an appeals court the "moral condemnation" of the Federal Railways -Generaldirektors Franz Strafella had confirmed the coalition parties GDVP and LBd support on June 3, one put forward by the opposition SDAP application for Dismissal of Strafellas as general manager. In order not to be exposed to a motion of censure, which the coalition parties might also be able to support, the Christian Socials in the government agreed to the impeachment.

Negotiations on the necessary savings went without an agreement, and the government came under further pressure from the Committee of Foreign Creditors of the Credit-Anstalt. On June 14, 1931, representatives of the creditors came to Vienna to negotiate their claims and auxiliary credits. Agreement was reached on the assumption of liability for the federal obligations of the Bank in the amount of approximately 71 million dollars for a deferral of the demands of foreign creditors by two years. When this result was discussed in the Council of Ministers on the evening of June 15, the Landbund Minister Franz Winkler declared that he could not agree to the liability and that the deferral was too short. After the finance minister had concluded the moratorium agreement the next morning, Winkler resigned in protest. This meant that only Schober himself was represented in the government from the Schoberblock. Therefore the government decided to resign. Federal President Miklas removed the government from office on June 16 and at the same time entrusted it with the continuation of business until a new government was formed.

After the government resigned

On the same evening there was a debate in the main committee , during which it was decided that no further federal liability may be assumed without the consent of the main committee. In the National Council, the tariff increase on tea and coffee, which was planned as part of the cost-saving measures, was taken off the agenda because the LBd now saw itself as an opposition and did not want to approve the bill.

The Christian Social Club expressed its confidence in Otto Ender and entrusted him with the formation of the new government. Ender accepted the order, but asked for temporary powers of attorney to reorganize the budget and to regulate the questions relating to the Credit-Anstalt. As a constitutional law, such powers would have required the approval of the Social Democrats, but they refused. The Greater Germans were ready to participate in the government, but demanded a reform of the electoral law and the waiver of cuts in civil servants' salaries. The Landbund, on the other hand, called for a cut in civil servants' salaries and declared the inclusion of the Social Democrats in the government to be desirable. Some of the Christian Socialists rejected this. With no prospect of restoring the previous coalition or the formation of a government with the SDAP, Ender resigned his entrustment with the formation of a government on June 18.

On June 19, Miklas entrusted Ignaz Seipel with forming a government. Seipel declared that he wanted to form a government, but not to be at its head. He announced that he would negotiate with all parties and proposed the formation of a concentration government . Corresponding negotiations failed because of personal and factual issues, as did Seipel's negotiations on restoring the previous coalition.

On June 20, Miklas entrusted the Lower Austrian Governor Karl Buresch with forming a government. This agreed with the GDVP, in the event of their government involvement, to renegotiate the Ender government's plans for civil servants' salaries and to appoint a “neutral” person ( Josef Redlich ) to the Ministry of Finance . On this basis, the Federal Government Buresch I , consisting of representatives from CSP, GDVP and LBd, could be sworn in on the evening of June 20, 1931 .

literature

• Klaus Berchtold : Constitutional history of the Republic of Austria . tape 1: 1918-1933 . Springer, Vienna / New York 1998, ISBN 3-211-83188-6 , pp. 584-618 .
• Hugo Portisch : Austria I: The underestimated republic . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1989, ISBN 978-3-218-00485-5 , p. 377-398 .

supporting documents

1. ^ Resignation of the Minister for Social Administration Dr. Resch. In:  Neue Freie Presse , April 15, 1931, p. 2 (online at ANNO ). .
2. ↑ Official part. In:  Wiener Zeitung , April 16, 1931, p. 1 (online at ANNO ). .
3. ↑ Official part. In:  Wiener Zeitung , June 2, 1931, p. 1 (online at ANNO ). .
4. ^ Resignation of the government. In:  Wiener Zeitung , June 17, 1931, p. 1 (online at ANNO ). .
5. ↑ Official part. In:  Wiener Zeitung , June 18, 1931, p. 1 (online at ANNO ). .