Austria’s interim government sworn in

Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen has sworn in new Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein and the ministers of her interim government for the work until an early election to the National Council (the lower chamber of parliament). 

The ceremony for declaring and appointing new cabinet of ministers of the republic was held today in the presidential chancellery in the Hofburg palace in Vienna.

The president also dismissed the former government’s ministers headed by acting Chancellor Hartwig Loger, who had been ordered on May 28 to organize a disciplined transfer of power to the interim government.

Several federal ministries were merged, as were some posts of ministers accountable to the federal chancellor, whereas the posts of state secretaries at the finance and interior ministries were removed in Austria’s temporary government. A total of 12 government members will work in the cabinet of ministers: six posts were occupied by men, and six posts by women.

Brigitte Bierlein became the first woman to serve as federal chancellor in Austria’s history. Before the appointment, she served as President of the Constitutional Court. A lawyer by education, Bierlein was born on June 25, 1949, and received higher education in the University of Vienna.

The reshuffling in the Austrian government occurred after the National Council had voted no-confidence to Sebastian Kurz’s cabinet of ministers on May 27 in light of the governmental crisis amid former Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache’s vociferous resignation. On May 28, the Austrian president dismissed the government headed by Kurz and ordered the ministers to perform their duties until an interim government is formed.