Karl Nehammer was sworn in as new Austrian Chancellor

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Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday swore in new Chancellor Karl Nehammer along with the other new ÖVP ministers.

He gave the members of the government a mission for the Corona crisis: the government must “come clean to the population”, make fact-based decisions and inform about them in comprehensible, joint communication.

“Immediately and together” the government must tackle the “great task” of resolutely combating the pandemic together with its social, economic and human consequences, Van der Bellen urged in a short speech. In this pandemic, one does not know what will happen next, he referred to the new omicron variant. Therefore, he said, “we must not raise false expectations or promise anything that later turns out not to be deliverable.”

The new Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the new members of the ÖVP government, whom he had proposed to the Federal President on Friday, were sworn in: Gerhard Karner is to become Minister of the Interior, Magnus Brunner Minister of Finance. Martin Polaschek will become Minister of Education, Alexander Schallenberg returns to the Foreign Ministry. Claudia Plakolm moves to the Federal Chancellery as Secretary of State for Youth.

After the swearing-in ceremony, still-Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg receives his successor at 2:00 p.m. in the Federal Chancellery and hands over the office of Chancellor to him.