Hammer in ministries

Government fails to replace every second civil servant

Babler, Stocker and Meinl-Reisinger are now saving on civil servants.(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

Austria's largest government is not exactly cutting back on state secretaries and party members in the cabinets, but is now doing so with civil servants. This is the result of a paper obtained by the "Krone" that was decided overnight. By the end of 2029, 2,600 full-time equivalents will be cut.

What is hidden under the unwieldy title of the Council of Ministers' paper "Increasing efficiency and objectification in the federal civil service" is a small political bombshell. Austria's first three-party coalition, for whose members and seven controversial state secretaries, as is well known, the bench in parliament had to be widened, is actually making savings for itself in line with its announcements - more precisely, for civil servants.

Against the backdrop of advancing technical possibilities, particularly in the administrative area, as well as the "path of responsible and disciplined budget consolidation", as stated by the government, actual savings in the area of federal personnel costs are to be achieved through strategic personnel planning.

540 million in potential savings
The Council of Ministers' presentation, which was submitted to "Krone" and approved overnight by circular resolution, states that a total of around 6 percent - equivalent to 2,600 full-time equivalents - of the administrative staff in the federal service is to be cut by the end of 2029.

Babler, Stocker and Meinl-Reisinger are now saving on civil servants.(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

"And that is roughly equivalent to saving every second retirement, based on the pension forecast for the civil service from 2027 to 2029 per year at federal level. Overall, this results in a cumulative savings potential of around 540 million euros until 2030 and annual savings of around 250 million euros from then on. In addition to retirements, further sustainable efficiency increases in the area of personnel costs should also be included in this overall assessment," the government calculates. 

The savings path

• 1.5% by the end of 2027
• 2.0% by the end of 2028
• 2.5% by the end of 2029

As before, external new admissions of people with a degree of disability of 60% or more are excluded from the savings, it is specified. The areas of the executive, the judiciary, teaching staff and the military are also excluded.

Tinkering from June 2026
As a first step, an inventory of the appointment procedures currently in use is to be drawn up by June 2026 by the General Secretaries and presidential section heads, including the head of the Civil Service Section. "Subsequently, concrete proposals for the measures agreed in the government program will be drawn up as soon as possible with the involvement of independent experts and employee representatives," the government states. 

NEOS leader: "We are saving in the system"
NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger explains to the "Krone" newspaper: "We are serious about 'saving in the system' and are streamlining the administrative apparatus. By not replacing retirements, we will save 540 million euros over the next four years - without any loss of quality in such important areas as education, justice or the police. In addition, we are strengthening quality and transparency with objective selection procedures and further developing the entry tests for applicants in the federal administration - to ensure that in future it will be what you can do and not who you know that counts when filling positions."

Pröll: "Savings through digitalization"
"In the next 13 years, 44 percent of federal employees will retire. By 2030, we will not be able to fill 6 percent of the civil service. To close this gap, we are focusing on the motto: savings through digitalization, not on digitalization. Above all, we want to use artificial intelligence to reduce the workload of our employees. At the same time, we are modernizing the administration - without compromising security-relevant areas or particularly vulnerable groups. In total, the new regulation will result in potential savings of 540 million euros by 2030, and around 250 million annually thereafter - 20 percent of which will go towards digitalization," emphasizes State Secretary for Digitalization Alexander Pröll (ÖVP).