| Federal Chancellor of Republic of Austria | |
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| Bundeskanzler der Republik Österreich (German) | |
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| Chancellery | |
| Style | Mr Chancellor His Excellency (diplomatic) |
| Type | Head of government |
| Status | Supreme executive organ Minister |
| Member of | Cabinet European Council National Security Council |
| Seat | Chancellery Building Ballhausplatz,Innere Stadt,Vienna |
| Appointer | President |
| Term length | No fixed term |
| Constituting instrument | Constitution of Austria |
| Precursor | Minister-President of Cisleithania |
| Formation | 30 October 1918 (106 years ago) (1918-10-30) |
| First holder | Karl Renner |
| Deputy | Vice-Chancellor |
| Salary | €306,446 annually |
| Website | federal-chancellery |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Austria |
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Thechancellor of Austria, officially thefederal chancellor of the Republic of Austria (German:Bundeskanzler der Republik Österreich), is thehead of government of theRepublic of Austria.
Twenty-nine people (twenty-eight men and one woman) have served as chancellor. The current holder of the officeChristian Stocker was sworn in on 3 March 2025 as chancellor.
Austria's chancellor chairs and leads thecabinet, which is composed of the chancellor, thevice chancellor and theministers. Together with thepresident, who ishead of state, the cabinet forms the country'sexecutive branch leadership.
Austria is aparliamentary republic, thesystem of government in which real power is vested in the head of government. However, in Austria most executive actions of great extent can only be exercised by the president, upon advice or with the countersignature of the chancellor or a specific minister. Therefore the chancellor often requires the president's consent to implement greater decisions. Neither the ministers nor the vice chancellor report to the chancellor.
In legislature, the chancellor's power depends on the size of their affiliatedparliamentary group. In case of acoalition cabinet, the chancellor commonly is the leader of the party most represented in theNational Council, with the leader of the party able to grant a majority, usually serving as the vice chancellor.
The first Austriansovereign head of government was the State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, a position only held byKlemens von Metternich. The office was later renamed toMinister-President of the Austrian Empire and remained from there on until thedissolution ofAustria-Hungary. The first head of government after the monarchy was the State Chancellor ofGerman-Austria, an office again only held by one person;Karl Renner. Afterallied powers declined a union between Austria andGermany, the office was renamed to just State Chancellor of Austria and later changed to Federal Chancellor, which remained the position's final form until present day.
Theofficial residence and executive office of the chancellor is thechancellery, which is located at theBallhausplatz in thecenter ofVienna. Both the chancellor as well as the cabinet are appointed by the president and can be dismissed by the president.
The current officeholder isChristian Stocker, who was sworn in as chancellor on 3 March 2025 by PresidentAlexander Van der Bellen.
The use of the termChancellor (Kanzler, derived fromLatin:cancellarius) as head of thechancery writing office can be traced back as far as the 9th century, when under KingLouis the German the office of theArchchancellor (Erzkanzler), later Imperial Chancellor (Reichserzkanzler), was created as ahigh office on the service of theHoly Roman Emperor.[1] The task was usually fulfilled by thePrince-Archbishops of Mainz as Archchancellors of theGerman lands.
In the course of theImperial reform, theHabsburg EmperorMaximilian I in 1498 attempted to counter the spiritual power of theReichserzkanzler with a more secular position of an Imperial Court Chancellor (Hofkanzler), but the two became merged. These were also the times when attempts were made to balance Imperial absolutism by the creation ofImperial Governments (Reichsregiment), ultimately a failure.
Nevertheless, when Maximilian's grandsonFerdinand I succeeded him asArchduke of Austria in 1521, his elder brotherEmperor Charles V (1519–1556) appointedMercurino Gattinara as "Grand Chancellor of all the realms and kingdoms of the king" (Großkanzler aller Länder und Königreiche). The separate position of an Austrian Court Chancellor appeared as aÖsterreichische Hofkanzlei around 1526, when theHabsburg monarchy arose with theBohemian andHungarian inheritance; it was however once again merged with the equivalentReichshofkanzlei office of theHoly Roman Empire in 1559.
Upon the 1620Battle of White Mountain and the suppression of the Bohemian revolt, EmperorFerdinand II had separate Court Chancelleries established in order to strengthen the unity of the Habsburg hereditary lands. Beside a Bohemian and Hungarian chancellery, he created the office of an Austrian chancellor inVienna, responsible for the Archduchy of Austria proper (i.e.Upper andLower Austria) with theInner Austrian territories andTyrol. Under EmperorLeopold I (1658–1705) the term again becameHofkanzler withJohann Paul Freiherr von Hocher (1667–1683), andTheodor von Strattman (1683–1693).[2]
The eighteenth century was dominated by PrinceWenzel Anton of Kaunitz-Rietberg (1753–1792), who was Chancellor to four Habsburg emperors fromMaria Theresa toFrancis II, with the titles of bothHofkanzler andStaatskanzler. He was succeeded byJohann Philipp von Cobenzl (1792–1793), who was dismissed by Emperor Francis II over thePartition of Poland and was succeeded byJohann Amadeus von Thugut (1793–1800). Thugut's chancellorship did not survive the Austrian defeats by the French at the battles ofMarengo andHohenlinden in 1800 and he was replaced byCount Ludwig von Cobenzl (1800–1805), his predecessor's cousin, but who in turn was dismissed following the Austrian defeat atAusterlitz in 1805.
With the consequent dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and founding of theAustrian Empire, Francis II abdicated the former Imperial Throne, but remained Emperor Francis I of Austria in 1806. He had replaced Cobenzl withJohann Philipp Stadion, Count von Warthausen (1805–1809) the previous year, but his career was in turn cut short in 1809 following yet another Austrian defeat byNapoleon at theBattle of Wagram and subsequent humiliation at theTreaty of Schönbrunn. PrinceKlemens von Metternich was appointed by Francis I to the positions ofHofkanzler andStaatskanzler (1821–1848). However, there is some opinion that the Chancellor title was not used between Prince Kaunitz-Rietberg's resignation in 1792 and 1821.[3] As theMetternich system had become a synonym for his reactionary politics, the title of a State Chancellor was abolished upon the1848 revolutions. The position became that of aMinister-President of Austria, equivalent to Prime Minister, with the exception ofCount Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust (1867–1871)[2][4]the title only re-emerging at the birth ofGerman Austria afterWorld War I in 1918, whenKarl Renner was appointedStaatskanzler. With the enactment of theConstitution of Austria on 10 November 1920, the actual termBundeskanzler was implemented as head of the executive branch of theFirst Austrian Republic.[citation needed]
The Chancellor is appointed and sworn in by thePresident.[5] In theory, the President can appoint anyone eligible to be elected to theNational Council, essentially meaning any Austrian national over the age of 18.[6] In practice, a Chancellor is unable to govern without the confidence of the National Council. For this reason, the Chancellor usually is the leader of the largest party in the National Council, or the senior partner in acoalition government. A notable exception to this occurred after the1999 election. TheFreedom Party won the most seats and went into coalition with thePeople's Party. While this would have normally made Freedom Party leaderJörg Haider Chancellor, he was deemed too controversial to be a member of the Cabinet, let alone Chancellor. He thus stepped aside in favour of People's Party leaderWolfgang Schüssel.
There are no term limits for the Chancellor. As a matter of constitutional convention, the Chancellor usually offers their resignation to the President upon dissolution of the National Council. The President usually declines the offer of resignation and directs the Chancellor and the cabinet to operate as acaretaker government until a new National Council is in session and a new majority leader has emerged. In fact, the constitution expressly encourages the President to use a Chancellor as the interim successor.[7]
A Chancellor is typically appointed or dismissed together with all of the ministers, which means the whole government. Technically, the President can only appoint ministers on advice of the Chancellor, so the Chancellor is appointed first. Having been sworn in, the Chancellor presents the President with a list of ministers; they will usually have been installed just minutes later. Neither Chancellors nor ministers need to be confirmed by either house of parliament; the appointees are fully capable of discharging the functions of their respective offices immediately after having been sworn in.[8]
The National Council can force the President to dismiss a Chancellor or a minister through avote of no confidence. The President is constitutionally required to sack any minister whom the National Council wants gone.[9] Opposition parties will sometimes table votes of no confidence against ministers, and occasionally whole cabinets, in order to demonstrate criticism; these votes had not been expected to pass. The first successful vote of no confidence in Austrian federal politics took place in May 2019 whenSebastian Kurz was ousted as Chancellor.[10][11]
The Chancellor chairs the meetings of thecabinet. Theconstitution does not vest the Chancellor with the authority to issue directions to ministers; it characterizes his or her role in the cabinet as that of aprimus inter pares.[12] The power of the office to set policy derives partly from its inherent prestige, partly from the fact that the President is required to dismiss ministers the Chancellor requests removed,[8] and partly from the Chancellor's position of leadership in the party or coalition controlling the National Council.
Most articles of the constitution that mention the office of Chancellor are tasking the incumbent with notarizing decisions by the President or by various constitutional bodies, with ensuring that these decisions are duly announced to the general public, or with acting as an intermediary between various branches of government. In particular, the Chancellor
The Chancellor also convenes the Federal Assembly if the National Council moves to have the President removed from office,[16] or if the National Council moves to lift the immunity of the President from criminal prosecution.[20] In the former case, the Federal Assembly votes on whether to allow a referendum on the matter. In the latter case, the assent of the Federal Assembly is required for the President's immunity to be rescinded.
Finally, the Chancellor becomes Acting President if the President is incapacitated. However, if the President remains incapacitated beyond twenty days or has died, the role of Acting President is passed on to the three Presidents of the National Council.[21]
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