"It's all over for me"

Tursky wants to resign as State Secretary

Tursky's post will be abolished - his previous area of responsibility will be transferred to State Secretary Plakolm.(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

State Secretary for Digitalization Florian Tursky (ÖVP) resigned from his post on Friday. The post will be saved and the digital agenda will go to ÖVP State Secretary Claudia Plakolm. The resignation will be officially announced in the Council of Ministers next Wednesday.

There have been repeated rumors of Tursky's departure recently, but the State Secretary has so far stuck to his official position of not retiring from Vienna until after the local elections in Innsbruck on 14 April and moving back to Tyrol. He wanted to do this in any case - even in the event of a defeat in the election.

Was that always the plan?
In fact, it had always been the plan to resign from the office of State Secretary during the intensive election campaign phase, he now said. It just wouldn't have been "the smartest idea" to announce it earlier, he said, referring to the mechanisms of media reporting.

Recent criticism of "dual function"
There was also repeated criticism of his "dual role" as an election campaigner in the West and government politician in the East. The 35-year-old was always on the go. Tursky and his conservative alliance want to replace city boss Georg Willi (Greens).

Tursky's post is abolished - his previous area of responsibility is transferred to State Secretary Plakolm.(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

The Chancellor himself bid farewell to the State Secretary on Friday.(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

The official election campaign launch of "Das Neue Innsbruck", an alliance of the ÖVP, "Für Innsbruck" and the Seniors' Association, will take place next Monday at the Innsbruck Congress. Tursky presented his list of candidates this week.

Nehammer sees a sign for Women's Day
Nehammer thanked Tursky for his achievements in the field of digitalization. "I wish you all the best for the election in Innsbruck, you are the right man," he told him. The handover to State Secretary for Youth Plakolm, who is based in the Federal Chancellery - Tursky worked in the Ministry of Finance - was a great pleasure and also particularly symbolic on International Women's Day. The "competencies of a young man are being transferred to the competencies of a young woman".

Tursky was pleased that he had achieved a lot as State Secretary, from broadband expansion to ID Austria or digitalization in the area of healthcare. However, he is not a man of half measures and wants to ensure a real new beginning in Innsbruck after all the disputes. "For me, things are now back on track," he said happily.

Routine should justify the merger
Plakolm spoke of a great honor. She will be familiarizing herself intensively in the coming weeks and also shaping things. "Digitalization is the pulse of our time, and we need a pulse that reminds us of athletes," she said: "We simply can't afford the zero line." Nehammer justified the fact that the State Secretariat for Digitalization is being merged and not replaced with a new one with Plakolm's routine in the political trade.

This guarantees that projects can actually be brought to the ground (in the remaining months of the legislative period, note).