Schellhorn's Secret List

How Ministries Are Blocking the Reduction of Bureaucracy

Schellhorn is trying to deliver—but many ministries aren’t playing along.(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

Reducing bureaucracy in Austria: Measures already approved to streamline the government must be reapproved individually. Only 14 of 113 measures have been implemented—primarily because the ministries themselves are delaying their implementation. The “Krone” has obtained the previously secret list of those blocking progress.

“Sepp, what are you doing?” That’s what many people in Austria have been thinking more and more often lately. But when speaking with the office of the NEOS State Secretary responsible for reducing bureaucracy, the answer is surprisingly unbureaucratic: “Whatever is possible!” As reported, there has been a barrage of loud criticism in recent days and weeks that only 14 of the federal government’s 113 planned deregulation measures have been implemented so far. Most recently, this even culminated in Schellhorn’s coalition partners, the ÖVP and SPÖ, telling him that there could be no second relief package until every single measure in the first package had been implemented. 

However, as a list of all 113 measures available to the “Krone” (see below to click through) shows, it is precisely the ministries governed by the ÖVP and SPÖ that are currently blocking or delaying the implementation of many measures.