Vice Chancellor (Austria)

Vice Chancellor of the Republic of Austria
Coat of arms of the Republic of Austria
Acting Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler since January 7, 2020
Official seat	Currently Federal Ministry for Public Service and Sport ; if not at the same time Minister: Federal Chancellery
Creation of office	October 1, 1920 ( Federal Constitution ) November 10, 1920 (entered into force)
position	Deputy Prime Minister
State authority	executive
Guarantee of existence	Art. 69 para. 2 B-VG
Appointed by	Federal President on the proposal of the Federal Chancellor
Deputy of	Chancellor
website	bundeskanzleramt.gv.at

The Vice Chancellor of the Republic of Austria represents the Federal Chancellor during his absence. In coalition governments , the less mandate party usually claimed the position of Vice Chancellor.

To the office

Vice Chancellor according to the Federal Constitution

The Vice Chancellor's power of representation has been regulated since November 10, 1920 by the Austrian Federal Constitution in Article 69, Paragraph 2 of the Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG) :

The Vice Chancellor is appointed to represent the Federal Chancellor in his entire sphere of activity. If the Federal Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor are prevented at the same time, the Federal Chancellor will be represented by the most senior member of the Federal Government, and if the seniority is the same, by the oldest member of the Federal Government who has not been prevented from doing so.

Like the Federal Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor has the same legal status as the other Federal Ministers or is one of theirs.

Already in the First Republic and in the first 25 years of the Second Republic, the respective Vice Chancellors often led ministries at the same time. B. Ferdinand Hanusch the social department, Johann Schober the interior ministry, Carl Vaugoin the army department and Fritz Bock the trade ministry. If this was not the case during the years of the “grand coalition” , the Vice Chancellor headed parts of the Federal Chancellery. Since 1991 every Vice Chancellor has also been the head of department.

Vice Chancellor before the Federal Constitution

In 1918 there was no representation for the State Chancellor in the Renner I state government , the first of the new state, as the latter initially acted as an auxiliary body for the three-person Presidency of the State Council ; the three presidents alternated weekly, one each chairing the house (= provisional national assembly ), the council (= state council) and the cabinet (= state government).

For the state governments Renner II and III as well as Mayr I , 1919/20, the National Assembly also elected a vice-chancellor in accordance with its law on state government of March 14, 1919; he could be head of a department at the same time.

In the provisional state government Renner 1945 , which acted without parliament and before the re-enactment of the federal constitution, the state chancellor was represented by the three political state secretaries assigned to the state chancellery (this is how the ministers were called in these governments); one each came from the ÖVP , SPÖ and KPÖ . In accordance with this deputy function, which corresponded to that of a Vice Chancellor, Johann Koplenig , KPÖ State Secretary in the Political Cabinet Council in 1945 , is said to have referred to himself as a former Vice Chancellor. However, there was no formal title of Vice Chancellor in 1945.

Vice Chancellor of the Republic of Austria

→ Main article : List of Austrian Vice Chancellors

First republic

from	to	Days	Surname	Political party	annotation
03/15/1919	04/26/1920	0408	Jodok Fink	CS	Vice Chancellor of the State Government
07/07/1920	10/22/1920	0107	Ferdinand Hanusch	SDAPÖ	State Secretary and "Deputy Chair in the Cabinet"
10/22/1920	11/20/1920	0029	Eduard Heinl	CS	State Secretary and “Deputy in the Chair in the Cabinet”, since Nov. 10, 1920 Vice Chancellor
11/20/1920	05/31/1922	0557	Walter Breisky	CS
05/31/1922	11/20/1924	0904	Felix Frank	GDVP
11/20/1924	10/20/1926	0699	Leopold Waber	GDVP
10/20/1926	05/19/1927	0211	Franz Dinghofer	GDVP
05/19/1927	05/04/1929	0716	Karl Hartleb	Landbund
05/04/1929	09/26/1929	0145	Vincent Schumy	Landbund
09/26/1929	09/30/1930	0369	Carl Vaugoin	CS
09/30/1930	December 04, 1930	0065	Richard Schmitz	CS
December 04, 1930	01/29/1932	0421	Johann Schober	CS
01/29/1932	09/21/1933	0601	Franz Winkler	Landbund	from March 5, 1933 without control by the National Council
09/21/1933	05/01/1934	0222	Emil Fey	Home block	without control by the National Council , dictatorship since February 12, 1934 ( corporate state )
05/01/1934	05/14/1936	0421	Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg	VF	Dictatorship ( corporate state )
05/14/1936	11/03/1936	0173	Eduard Baar-Baarenfels	VF	Dictatorship ( corporate state )
11/03/1936	03/11/1938	0493	Ludwig Hülgerth	VF	Dictatorship ( corporate state )
03/11/1938	March 13, 1938	0002	Edmund Glaise-Horstenau	NSDAP	Dictatorship ( "Anschluss" )

Second republic

from	to	Days	Surname	Political party	annotation
04/27/1945	December 20, 1945	0237	Leopold Figl Johann Koplenig Adolf Schärf	ÖVP KPÖ SPÖ	State secretaries without portfolio in the Political Cabinet Council of the Provisional State Government of State Chancellor Karl Renner (Renner IV)
December 20, 1945	05/22/1957	3936 (4171)	Adolf Schärf	SPÖ
05/22/1957	04/19/1966	3254	Bruno Pittermann	SPÖ	from July 29, 1959 entrusted with the management of the Federal Chancellery - Nationalized Enterprises (Section IV)
04/19/1966	01/19/1968	0640	Fritz Bock	ÖVP	Entrusted with the management of the Federal Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry
01/19/1968	04/21/1970	0523	Hermann Withalm	ÖVP	no ministerial office, chairman of the ÖVP parliamentary club
04/21/1970	09/30/1976	2354	Rudolf houses	SPÖ	Federal Minister for Social Administration
10/01/1976	01/20/1981	1572	Hannes Androsch	SPÖ	Federal Minister of Finance
01/20/1981	05/24/1983	0854	Fred Sinowatz	SPÖ	Federal Minister for Education and the Arts
05/24/1983	01/21/1987	1338	Norbert Steger	FPÖ	Federal Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry
01/21/1987	04/24/1989	0824	Alois Mock	ÖVP	Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs
04/24/1989	07/02/1991	0799	Josef Riegler	ÖVP	Federal Minister for Federalism and Administrative Reform
07/02/1991	05/04/1995	1402	Erhard Busek	ÖVP	until 1994: Federal Minister for Science and Research from 1994: Federal Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs
05/04/1995	02/04/2000	1737	Wolfgang bowl	ÖVP	Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs
02/04/2000	02/28/2003	1120	Susanne Riess-Passer	FPÖ	Federal Minister for Public Achievement and Sport
02/28/2003	10/21/2003	0235	Herbert Haupt	FPÖ	Federal Minister for Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection
10/21/2003	11/01/2007	1178	Hubert Gorbach	FPÖ / BZÖ 1)	Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology 1) until April 5, 2005 FPÖ, from April 6, 2005 BZÖ
11/01/2007	12/02/2008	0691	Wilhelm Molterer	ÖVP	Federal Minister of Finance
12/02/2008	04/21/2011	0870	Josef Pröll	ÖVP	Federal Minister of Finance
04/21/2011	09/01/2014	1230	Michael Spindelegger	ÖVP	until 16 Dec. 2013: Federal Minister for European and International Affairs from 16 Dec. 2013: Federal Minister for Finance
09/01/2014	05/17/2017	0989	Reinhold Mitterlehner	ÖVP	Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy
05/17/2017	December 18, 2017	0215	Wolfgang Brandstetter	independent	Federal Minister of Justice
December 18, 2017	05/22/2019	0520	Heinz-Christian Strache	FPÖ	from January 8th 2018: Federal Minister for Public Service and Sport
05/22/2019	05/28/2019	0007th	Hartwig Löger	ÖVP	Federal Minister of Finance
06/03/2019	October 01, 2019	0121	Clemens Jabloner	independent	Federal Minister for the Constitution, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice
07/01/2020			Werner Kogler	Green	until Jan 28 2020: Federal Minister for Public Service and Sport from Jan 29. 2020: Federal Minister for Art, Culture, Public Service and Sport

Vice Chancellor Timeline (since 1945)

See also

• List of Federal Chancellors of the Republic of Austria

Web links

• Newspaper article about Vice Chancellor in the press kit of the 20th century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• Maria Sterkl: Why there is no longer a Vice Chancellor. Clemens Jabloner is only Minister of Justice, but has to continue to represent Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein. In: Der Standard , October 7, 2020: “Since October 1, Clemens Jabloner has only been Minister of Justice, the position of Vice Chancellor will only return after the next federal government has sworn in. In the event that a government is entrusted with the continuation of official business, that is 'completely normal', according to the Federal Presidential Chancellery . "

Individual evidence

• Query in: Federal governments since 1920 , parlament.gv.at → Who is who → Federal government
• Entry on Vice Chancellor in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )

1. ↑ This applies even though  these two government offices are not specifically named in the Federal Constitution, Art. 19 Paragraph 1 B-VG: "The highest executive bodies are the Federal President, the Federal Ministers and State Secretaries as well as the members of the state governments."
2. ↑ StGBl. No. 180/1919 , (p. 407 ff.)
3. ↑ Until December 20, 1945, the heads of department were referred to as state secretaries , today's state secretaries as undersecretaries