Constitutional Court chief becomes Austria's interim chancellor

World
Europe

Austria's president has picked the female president of the Constitutional Court to become interim chancellor after parliament voted Sebastian Kurz's government out of office in the wake of a video sting scandal.

Brigitte Bierlein, who is due to reach the court's mandatory retirement age of 70 this year, will be tasked with putting together a cabinet that will have parliament's backing until the next election, which is expected to be held in September. She would also become Austria's first female chancellor.

"She is the sitting president of the Austrian Constitutional Court and will be named chancellor of the Austrian Republic by me within days," President Alexander Van der Bellen said in a statement to the media.

"The most important goal is currently to contribute to greater calm and to building trust between all (political) sides ... in Austria, in Europe and in the whole world," Bierlein said in remarks to the media with President Alexander Van der Bellen on Thursday.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz leaves after the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers in Vienna, Austria, May 22, 2019. /VCG Photo

Van der Bellen's pick is what had been widely expected – a veteran civil servant not involved in day-to-day politics – though many judges are close to a party, and Kurz's right-wing coalition government proposed Bierlein as the court's chief.

He said he and Bierlein, whom he plans to formally appoint along with her cabinet within days, had agreed to pick mainly civil servants as ministers.

Austrian lawmakers voted conservative Kurz's government out of office on Monday, passing a motion of no confidence days after it became a caretaker administration in the wake of a video sting scandal.

Kurz's People's Party came out on top in Sunday's European parliament election, only a week after a video sting scandal prompted far-right Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache to step down and Kurz to scrap the coalition between their parties.

(With inputs from Reuters)

(Cover: Designated Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein arrives to hold a news conference in Vienna, Austria, May 30, 2019. /Reuters Photo)