New Austrian Chancellor is former Minister of the Interior Karl Nehammer
Karl Nehammer has been unanimously appointed new party leader and federal chancellor by the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) federal party board.
Nehammer becomes party leader and federal chancellor. / Picture: © ÖVP Bundespartei / Jacob Glaser
Following the resignation of Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) Chairman Sebastian Kurz and Federal Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, Karl Nehammer is to take over both posts.
Karl Nehammer was unanimously appointed today by the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) federal party executive committee as the new party leader and federal chancellor.
Nehammer confirmed this in a press conference after the party executive.
Karl Nehammer (49) was Federal Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Austria since January 7, 2020.
From January 2018 to January 2020, he was Secretary General of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and from November 2017 to January 2020, he was a member of the Austrian National Council.
Karl Nehammer attended high school in Vienna and graduated in 1992.
He then served as a one-year volunteer in the Austrian Armed Forces with subsequent re-enlistment until 1996.
In 1997 he was discharged as a lieutenant. He then worked as a teaching trainer for information officers for the Federal Ministry of Defense and as a trainer for strategic communication for various institutions such as the Vocational Training Institute (BFI) and the Political Academy of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).
From 2012, he completed the university course Political Communication at the Danube University Krems and graduated with the academic degree Master of Science (MSc).
In October 2015, he was appointed Deputy Secretary General and Federal Organizing Officer of the Austrian Federation of Employees (ÖAAB). From 2016 to January 2018, he was Secretary General of the ÖAAB. In November 2016, he was elected provincial chairman of the ÖAAB Vienna. Since April 2017, he has been district party chairman of the ÖVP in his district of residence, Vienna-Hietzing.
In the 2017 National Council election, he ran for the provincial constituency of Vienna. In November 2017, he was elected deputy ÖVP club chairman.
In the course of the formation of the government of the federal government Kurz I after the National Council election, he negotiated on the ÖVP side in the department of national defense.
In the ÖVP parliamentary club, he acted as media spokesman.
On January 25, 2018, he succeeded Elisabeth Köstinger and Stefan Steiner as ÖVP secretary general.
In September 2018, he additionally became integration and migration spokesman.
In the 2019 National Council election, he ran for fifth place on the ÖVP Vienna list and 11th place on the ÖVP federal list.
He was delegated by the ÖVP to the federal election authority for the 2019 National Council election. In the course of the 2019 coalition negotiations, he negotiated the topics of Europe, migration, integration and security.
He was a member of the National Council (XXVI.-XXVII. GP) for the ÖVP from November 9, 2017 to January 7, 2020.
Since January 7, 2020, he was Federal Minister of the Interior.