Austrian politician and scholar (born 1957)
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
^ Ministry of Justice (December 17, 2017). "LEBENSLAUF:DR. WOLFGANG BRANDSTETTER" .
^ Government of Austria (17 December 2017). "Federal Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Ministers" .
^ Institute for Austrian and European Business Criminal Law (17 December 2017). "o. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Brandstetter" .
^ Wikipedia (17 December 2017). "Wolfgang Brandstetter" .
^ The Times of Israel (17 December 2017). "Heinz-Christian Strache, from neo-Nazi youth to Austria's next vice-chancellor" .
^ Ingrid Steiner-Gashi (March 17, 2018), [1] Kurier .
^ Matthew Karnitschnig (June 4, 2021), Racist, sexist messages trip up Austrian judge at center of Kurz scandal Politico Europe .
^ Renate Graber and Fabian Schmid (April 17, 2021), Postenbesetzung: Justizminister Brandstetters Chauffeur wirkte an Hearing für Topjob mit Der Standard .
^ Matthew Karnitschnig (May 12, 2021), Sebastian Kurz’s political future in doubt amid perjury probe Politico Europe .
^ Matthew Karnitschnig (June 4, 2021), Racist, sexist messages trip up Austrian judge at center of Kurz scandal Politico Europe .
^ Stephan Löwenstein (June 4, 2021), Österreich: Wie ein Verfassungsrichter über private Chats stürzte Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung .
^ Volksblatt