Defunct Karl Nehammer (German: [kaɐ̯l ˈneːhamɐ]; born 18 October 1972) is an Austrian politician who served as the 29th chancellor of Austria from 2021 to 2025.

Nehammer assumed the chancellorship as the successor of Alexander Schallenberg, who resigned in order to return to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[1] Nehammer announced his resignation as chancellor and ÖVP leader after unsuccessful coalition talks following the 2024 legislative election.

He then became director of the party academy's Lower Austria association and was considered close to then-deputy governor Wolfgang Sobotka.

[4] During the 2016 Austrian presidential election, he was appointed replacement manager for the ÖVP's Andreas Khol partway through the campaign, but was unable to save him from a historically poor result of 11%.

[12] Under his leadership, the Austrian government filed charges in mid-2020 against a person who had confessed to spying for Turkey's secret service.

[16] In October 2021, Sebastian Kurz resigned as chancellor in the wake of a corruption investigation and was succeeded by Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.

Soon afterwards, Schallenberg announced he would not seek the leadership and would resign as chancellor in favour of the new ÖVP leader once one had been elected.

[17] On 3 December, Nehammer was provisionally appointed as leader of the ÖVP by the federal party committee and proposed as chancellor.

Nehammer said he confronted Putin about Russia's war crimes in Ukraine and told him "it’s necessary to have international justice, the United Nations there.

[25] On 8 December 2022 Nehammer was the architect of the sole veto against Bulgaria's and Romania's admission in the Schengen Area on 1 January the following year.

[31] In the 2024 Austrian legislative election held on 29 September, the ÖVP placed second to the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which gained a plurality of seats in the National Council.