Doer in the background

What makes Herbert Kickl’s “shadow chancellor” Teufel tick

Always at Kickl's side: Reinhard Teufel was even present at the meeting with the Federal President.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Imre Antal)

Doer and center of power: Reinhard Teufel is Herbert Kickl's right-hand man in the background. He sits at the green negotiating table for the blue party leader, manages blue official business at federal level in Vienna and at state level in Lower Austria. How he ticks, thinks and steers.

The devil is in the detail. What is just an empty phrase for many Austrians is to a certain extent the law in the FPÖ. Reinhard Teufel, officially "only" club chairman of the Freedom Party in Lower Austria, is unofficially regarded as Herbert Kickl's right-hand man and therefore the second most powerful blue man in Austria. He takes care of his boss's concerns and ensures that even the smallest political cogs mesh together for the big picture.