Minister (Austria)

In the past, it also used to include most other government workers, from local taxative clerks to school teachers.

[12] With the exception of apex court judges, principals of public secondary schools, and a few handfuls of top-level ministerial officers, prosecutors, and army brass, functionaries are usually appointed by ministers.

[19] This means they need to be Austrian citizens, at least 18 years of age, and cannot have lost the right to stand as a candidate as a result of a criminal conviction.

[28] The fact that the cabinet is installed by the president, who is elected directly by the people, and not by parliament is one of the features of the Austrian constitution that impart a semi-presidential appearance to the country.

[31] The president is required to dismiss any minister the National Council censures with a motion of no confidence.

[32] As a result, the president is more or less forced to appoint as chancellor whichever majority leader the legislature preselects.

[34] The last time an Austrian president rebuked a parliamentary majority leader was in the context of the installation of the first Schüssel government in 1999; President Thomas Klestil first preemptively announced he would refuse to appoint Jörg Haider,[35] then in fact refused Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel's request to appoint Hilmar Kabas and Thomas Prinzhorn.

Between 1945 and 2005, opposition parties have submitted no fewer 175 unsuccessful motions of no confidence in order to focus attention and create headlines.

As of 2017, motions of no confidence have been introduced against members of every single cabinet in the history of the Second Austrian Republic.

It is thus customary for the cabinet to resign not just when the ruling coalition breaks down but also whenever a new National Council is elected.

In theory, the president could appoint selected departing ministers, state secretaries, or senior civil servants.

In addition to being politically answerable to the president and the legislature, ministers are also legally liable for any misconduct in office.

The constitution stipulates that Austria is run according to the principle of the rule of law (Gesetzmäßigkeit der Verwaltung).

Among other things, this means that it is illegal for ministers to try to exercise powers not explicitly vested in them by statute.

[40] Ministers accused of not just political malpractice but of culpable violations of actual law can be impeached before the Constitutional Court.

[50] In reality, the chancellor's triple role as chairperson of the cabinet, de facto coadjutor of the president, and de facto parliamentary majority leader makes him or her the most powerful person in Austrian politics by a comfortable margin.

Heinz-Christian Strache for example, vice chancellor in the First Kurz government, doubles as the Chancellery minister of Civil Service and Sports.

In many governments, the relative strengths of the two parties in the National Council call for a seat ratio in the cabinet that is difficult to approximate with the ministries at hand; a supernumerary minister or two can help reach the necessary compromise.

[61] As a consequence, responsibilities keep being shuffled around; ministries are created, dissolved, merged into others, or split in two – usually once per election cycle, sometimes twice or more.

A second factor is that Chancellery sections, unlike ministries, can be created or dissolved without involving the legislature and so tend to be naturally more ephemeral.

[67] Even though the chancellor can create Chancellery sections without having to wait for statutes to be passed and promulgated, the process can take time.

As of September 2018, the most recent example is Gernot Blümel, minister of European affairs, the Art, Culture and the Media in the First Kurz government.