Wolfgang Brandstetter
Member of the Constitutional Court
In office
27 February 2018 – 7 June 2021
Appointed byFederal Government
Vice-Chancellor of Austria
In office
17 May 2017 – 18 December 2017
ChancellorChristian Kern
Preceded byReinhold Mitterlehner
Succeeded byHeinz-Christian Strache
Minister of Justice
In office
16 December 2013 – 18 December 2017
ChancellorWerner Faymann
Christian Kern
Preceded byBeatrix Karl
Succeeded byJosef Moser
Personal details
Born (1957-10-07) 7 October 1957 (age 66)
Haag, Austria
Political partyIndependent
Children3
EducationUniversity of Vienna

Wolfgang Brandstetter is an independent Austrian politician and legal scholar who served as a member of the Constitutional Court of Austria from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as the Minister of Justice of Austria, as well as the country's Vice Chancellor.[1][2]

Career

In 2007 Brandstetter became director of the Institute for Austrian and European Economic Criminal Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.[3]

Brandstetter was chosen to be a member of the Werner Faymann cabinet in December 2013, designated to serve as the country's Minister of Justice. He later succeeded Reinhold Mitterlehner in becoming the Vice-Chancellor of Austria in May 2017.[4][circular reference]

Brandtstetter left office upon the swearing-in of Heinz-Christian Strache to his position on 18 December 2017.[5] In 2018, he served as a special adviser to European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Věra Jourová on rule-of-law issues.[6][7]

Member of the Constitutional Court, 2018–2021

In February 2018 Brandstetter was appointed as a member of the Constitutional Court of Austria.

When prosecutors opened a probe in 2021 into whether Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had lied to a parliamentary committee investigating allegations of corruption by members of his previous government, Brandstetter also became a subject of criminal investigations.[8][9]

In June 2021, Brandstetter resigned following the publication of a series of private text messages sent to him by former colleague Christian Pilnacek (suspended section head in the Austrian Ministry of Justice) containing sexist and racist language.[10][11]

Honours

References

  1. ^ Ministry of Justice (December 17, 2017). "LEBENSLAUF:DR. WOLFGANG BRANDSTETTER".
  2. ^ Government of Austria (17 December 2017). "Federal Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Ministers".
  3. ^ Institute for Austrian and European Business Criminal Law (17 December 2017). "o. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Brandstetter". ((cite web)): |author= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Wikipedia (17 December 2017). "Wolfgang Brandstetter".
  5. ^ The Times of Israel (17 December 2017). "Heinz-Christian Strache, from neo-Nazi youth to Austria's next vice-chancellor".
  6. ^ Ingrid Steiner-Gashi (March 17, 2018), [1] Kurier.
  7. ^ Matthew Karnitschnig (June 4, 2021), Racist, sexist messages trip up Austrian judge at center of Kurz scandal Politico Europe.
  8. ^ Renate Graber and Fabian Schmid (April 17, 2021), Postenbesetzung: Justizminister Brandstetters Chauffeur wirkte an Hearing für Topjob mit Der Standard.
  9. ^ Matthew Karnitschnig (May 12, 2021), Sebastian Kurz’s political future in doubt amid perjury probe Politico Europe.
  10. ^ Matthew Karnitschnig (June 4, 2021), Racist, sexist messages trip up Austrian judge at center of Kurz scandal Politico Europe.
  11. ^ Stephan Löwenstein (June 4, 2021), Österreich: Wie ein Verfassungsrichter über private Chats stürzte Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
  12. ^ Volksblatt
Political offices Preceded byBeatrix Karl Minister of Justice 2013–2017 Succeeded byJosef Moser Preceded byReinhold Mitterlehner Vice-Chancellor of Austria 2017 Succeeded byHeinz-Christian Strache


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