Barbara Kappel (born 16 February 1965 in Reith im Alpbachtal) is an Austrian politician.

From 2000 to 2006 Kappel worked as office manager for Thomas Prinzhorn and also in a number of agencies that are closely related to the Federation of Industrialists.

[2] In 2010, Kappel was part of an FPÖ campaign in which she was presented by Heinz-Christian Strache as Minister of Economy and Finance in the shadow cabinet.

In 2016 and in the course of the formation of the government in 2017, Kappel was mentioned again in the shadow cabinet by ex-FPÖ chief Heinz-Christian Strache as a possible minister of economy.

In April 2020, text messaging conversations from 2018 and 2019[6][7] were published, from which it emerges that the then leader Harald Vilimsky and party leader Heinz-Christian Strache doubted Barbara Kappel's loyalty and she in the EU election will no longer be on a promising list place in May 2019.