Noted in the margin

Cracks in the pillars

Once upon a time. Stories about the good old days often begin with these two words. And so it is with the story of the Conference of Provincial Governors.

It used to be really important.

In the Austrian real constitution, power in the Second Republic rested on two pillars. One pillar was the social partners. This had already begun to crack under Sebastian Kurz's chancellorship. Under a possible Federal Chancellor Herbert Kickl, it will probably collapse completely.

The other pillar was the conference of state governors. Chancellors were afraid of their meetings. When an Erwin Pröll and a Michael Häupl had something to say to the government, the ministers scurried nimbly through their offices.

That hasn't been the case for a long time now. The word of the provincial governors carries little weight in Vienna. Unless someone has very special connections, such as Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor of Lower Austria, with Karl Nehammer, the Federal Chancellor who was in office until yesterday. That is also over now. What a Peter Kaiser from Klagenfurt or an Anton Mattle from Innsbruck and their colleagues have to say rarely elicits more than a shrug of the shoulders.

Under a Federal Chancellor Herbert Kickl, the balance could shift once again. Only Styria with Mario Kunasek would then have the best cards.