"Krone" commentary

2025: The (un)year of the heads of state

Ministers come and go, provincial governors stay: this is how the system works over the years. A few ministers will be added in 2025. A lot could happen in the provinces in 2025. In Carinthia and Salzburg, handovers are imminent: in the fall, Peter Kaiser is expected to hand over the fate of the SPÖ and later Carinthia at a provincial party conference. The popular Kaiser is handing over an occupied farm. Salzburg's Wilfried Haslauer has two successor candidates in Karoline Edtstadler and Provincial Councillor Stefan Schnöll.

In three weeks' time, the governor of Burgenland will be (re)elected. The possibility of Hans Peter Doskozil losing his job to a Norbert-Hofer-VP majority is manageable. Losing the absolute majority could happen. Which will make him unwell. Lower Austria's Hanni Mikl-Leitner will also feel this way in the local council elections when the loss is announced. One or two successors are scratching the frosty ground.

Her neighbor in Upper Austria, Thomas Stelzer, governs with the FPÖ in a fact-oriented manner. According to the polls, the voters are only partially appreciative of this. It is quite possible that Stelzer will have to develop more of a (loud) profile - both internally and externally. Vienna's Michael Ludwig beats his election in the fall. The weakness of all his opponents is his true strength. Why is that important? The heads of the provinces are natural coalition partners for any chancellor. Karl Nehammer's future will be decided in the provinces in 2025.