Wolfgang Brandstetter

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]

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
Haag, Austria
Political partyIndependent
Children3
EducationUniversity of Vienna

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]

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), 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


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