Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism

In Austrian politics, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism (German: Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft, Regionen und Tourismus or BMLRT, although often called Nachhaltigkeitsministerium^[1][2]) is the ministry in charge of agricultural policy, forestry, hunting, fishing, viticulture and wine law, postal and telecommunications services, mining, animal welfare, and the tourism industry.^[3] The Ministry was first created in 2000 through a merger of the Ministry of Agriculture (Landwirtschaftsministerium) and the Ministry of Environment (Umweltministerium); it gained responsibility for the energy sector, mining, and tourism under the first Kurz cabinet in 2018.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism

Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft, Regionen und Tourismus
Ministry overview
Formed	1867
Jurisdiction	Austria
Headquarters	Stubenring 1 Vienna 48°12′35″N 16°22′59″E
Minister responsible	Elisabeth Köstinger
Website	bmlrt.gv.at

The current Minister of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism is Elisabeth Köstinger.

History

The Ministry's earliest precursor was the Cisleithanian Ministry of Agriculture (Ackerbauministerium), created in 1867. In additional to agriculture, the Ministry was responsible for regulating hunting, fishing, and hydraulic engineering, excluding hydraulic engineering of military importance.^[9][10] The organization was renamed to Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Ministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft) in 1918 and was briefly called a department (Staatsamt) rather than a ministry during the two periods of constitutional transition following the two World Wars. Except for the name, however, the Ministry survived mostly in its original form until 2000.

In 1972, Austria established the Ministry of Health and the Environment (Ministerium für Gesundheit und Umweltschutz, usually called Gesundheitsministerium or Umweltministerium for short). In 1987, family affairs were added to its portfolio, turning it into the Ministry of Environment, Youth and Family Affairs (Ministerium für Umwelt, Jugend und Familie) ^[9][11]

In 2000, the two ministries were combined to form the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (Ministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft, although often called Lebensministerium).^[11] Responsibility for family affairs was moved to the Ministry of Social Affairs (Sozialministerium) at the time.

When the first Kurz cabinet took office in December 2017, the ministry was put in charge of the energy sector, mining, and tourism in addition to its existing powers and duties; it also gained its current designation.^[10][11][12] The additional responsibilities created an institution with exceptionally broad authority; the new ministry has been described as a "super ministry" (Superministerium) ^[13] and a "behemoth" (Riese); the cabinet had difficulties finding a new name that would adequately reflect its extensive purview, the present minister has noted.^[13] The move was not completely uncontroversial.^[14]

After the Second Kurz government took office in January 2020, the ministry was renamed Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism.^[3]

Responsibilities

As of January 2020, the Ministry is charged with regulating, supervising, or managing, respectively:^[15]

• agricultural policy and law;
• alternative service to military service: Zivildienst also called Regionaldienst (German for "regional service")
• the food sector with the exception of food safety;
• forestry policy and law;
• domestic markets for agricultural, food and forestry products, including seeds and seed stock, animal food, fertilizer, plant protection products, including their regulatory approval, with the exception of price regulation, surveillance, and control;
• imports and exports;
• wine law and viticultural supervision;
• land reform; agricultural authorities; agricultural and forestry real estate transactions;
• measures aimed at reducing the agriculture and forestry sector's exposure to debt;
• water law and water management with the exception of the engineering aspects of waterway, water supply, and sewerage construction;
• plant protection;
• agricultural and forestry schools, including human resources management, to the extent not handles by the Chancellery;
• agricultural and forestry commodity exchanges;
• professional representation of agricultural and forestry entrepreneurs and freelancers;
• management of public real estate used for agriculture and forestry;
• hunting and fishing;
• protecting Austria's border waters and safeguarding Austria's water rights and water management interests; engineering aspects of water construction in border waters, with the exception of the Danube, the March, and the Thaya downstream from Bernhardsthal;
• mining;
• postal and telecommunications services;
• voluntary service;
• tourism.

Structure

Since January 2020, the ministry consists of the Minister and her personal staff (Kabinett), the office of the general secretary, a special coordination department, and five numbered regular departments (Sektionen):^[16]

1. Water management and hydraulic engineering (Wasserwirtschaft)
2. Agriculture and rural development (Landwirtschaft und ländliche Entwicklung)
3. Forestry and Sustainability (Forstwirtschaft und Nachhaltigkeit)
4. Telecommunications and postal service and mining (Telekommunikation, Post und Bergbau)
5. Tourism and regional policy (Tourismus und Regionalpolitik)

The Minister and her staff are political appointees; the general secretary and the section heads are career civil servants.

Ministers

First Republic

State Secretariat of Agriculture Staatsamt für Landwirtschaft
Cabinet:	Secretary:	Party:	Date appointed:
Renner I	Josef Stöckler	CS	October 30, 1918
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft
Cabinet:	Minister:	Party:	Date appointed:
Renner II	Josef Stöckler	CS	March 15, 1919
Renner III			October 17, 1919
	Karl Renner (interim)	SPÖ	June 24, 1920
Mayr I	Alois Haueis	CS	July 7, 1920
Mayr II			November 20, 1920
Schober I	Leopold Hennet	none	June 21, 1921
Breisky			January 26, 1922
Schober II			January 27, 1922
Seipel I	Rudolf Buchinger	CS	May 31, 1922
Seipel II			April 17, 1923
Seipel III			November 20, 1923
Ramek I			November 20, 1924
Ramek II	Andreas Thaler	CS	January 15, 1926
Seipel IV			October 20, 1926
Seipel V			May 19, 1927
Streeruwitz	Florian Födermayr	CS	May 4, 1929
Schober III			September 26, 1929
Vaugoin	Andreas Thaler	CS	September 30, 1930
Ender			December 4, 1930
	Engelbert Dollfuß (interim)	CS	March 18, 1931
Buresch I			June 20, 1931
Buresch II			January 29, 1932
Dollfuß I			May 20, 1932
Dollfuß II			September 21, 1932
	Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg	VF	July 26, 1934
Schuschnigg I	Josef Reither	VF	July 29, 1934
	Ludwig Strobl	VF	October 17, 1935
Schuschnigg II	Kurt Schuschnigg (interim)	VF	May 14, 1936
	Peter Mandorfer	VF	May 15, 1936
Schuschnigg III			November 3, 1936
Schuschnigg IV			February 16, 1938
Seyß-Inquart	Anton Reinthaller	NSDAP	March 11, 1938

Second Republic

State Secretariat of Agriculture and Forestry Staatsamt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft
Cabinet:	Secretary:	Party:	Date appointed:
Renner	Rudolf Buchinger	ÖVP	April 27, 1945
	Josef Kraus	ÖVP	September 26, 1945
Ministry of Agriculture Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft
Cabinet:	Minister:	Party:	Date appointed:
Figl I	Josef Kraus	ÖVP	December 20, 1945
Figl II			November 8, 1949
	Franz Thoma	ÖVP	January 23, 1952
Figl III			October 28, 1952
Raab I			April 2, 1953
Raab II			June 29, 1956
Raab III	Eduard Hartmann	ÖVP	July 16, 1959
Raab IV			November 3, 1960
Gorbach I			April 11, 1961
Gorbach II			March 27, 1963
Klaus I	Karl Schleinzer	ÖVP	April 2, 1964
Klaus II			April 19, 1966
Kreisky I	Johann Öllinger	none	April 21, 1970
	Oskar Weihs	SPÖ	May 22, 1970
Kreisky II			November 4, 1971
Kreisky III			October 28, 1975
	Josef Staribacher (interim)	SPÖ	October 1, 1976
	Günter Haiden	SPÖ	October 1, 1976
Kreisky IV			June 5, 1979
Sinowatz			May 24, 1983
Vranitzky I	Erich Schmidt	SPÖ	June 16, 1986
Vranitzky II	Josef Riegler	ÖVP	January 21, 1987
	Franz Fischler	ÖVP	April 24, 1989
Vranitzky III			December 17, 1990
	Jürgen Weiss (interim)	ÖVP	November 17, 1994
Vranitzky IV	Wilhelm Molterer	ÖVP	November 29, 1994
Vranitzky V			March 12, 1996
Klima			January 28, 1997
Schüssel I	February 4, 2000
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft
Cabinet:	Minister:	Party:	Date appointed:
Schüssel I	Wilhelm Molterer	ÖVP	April 1, 2000
Schüssel II	Josef Pröll	ÖVP	February 28, 2003
Gusenbauer			January 11, 2007
Faymann I	Nikolaus Berlakovich	ÖVP	December 2, 2008
Faymann II	Andrä Rupprechter	ÖVP	December 16, 2013
Kern			May 17, 2016
Kurz I	Elisabeth Köstinger	ÖVP	December 18, 2017
Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism Bundesministerium für Nachhaltigkeit und Tourismus
Cabinet:	Minister:	Party:	Date appointed:
Kurz I	Elisabeth Köstinger	ÖVP	January 8, 2017
Bierlein	Maria Patek	Ind	June 3, 2019
Kurz II	Elisabeth Köstinger	ÖVP	January 7, 2020
Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft, Regionen und Tourismus
Cabinet:	Minister:	Party:	Date appointed:
Kurz II	Elisabeth Köstinger	ÖVP	January 29, 2020

References

1. "Der Standard archive search". May 6, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
2. "Die Presse archive search". May 6, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
3. Bundesministeriengesetz-Novelle 2020 (BGBl. I 8/2020) (in German). 28 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
4. "Türkis-Blau: Das sind die neuen Minister". Kurier. December 16, 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
5. "16-köpfiges ÖVP-FPÖ-Team vereidigt". ORF. December 16, 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
6. "Curriculum Vitae of the Federal Minister Norbert Hofer". BMVIT. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
7. "Die Minsterin" (in German). BMNT. March 19, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
8. "Köstinger gibt Landwirtschaftsministerium neue Organisationsstruktur" (in German). Die Presse. January 3, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
9. "Geschichte des Ministeriums" (in German). BMNT. January 16, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
10. "150 Jahre Landwirtschaftsminiterium" (in German). BMNT. April 4, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
11. "History of the Ministry". BMNT. January 16, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
12. "Acht Minister neu angelobt" (in German). Die Presse. January 8, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
13. "Warum Landwirtschaft im Superministerium von Köstinger keinen Platz hat" (in German). Die Presse. January 19, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
14. "Kurz' Minister: Wie sie wurden, was sie nun sind" (in German). Die Presse. December 16, 2017. Retrieved 2016-05-08.
15. "Bundesministeriengesetz 1986 in der Fassung vom 29. Januar 2020" (in German). BKA. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
16. "Aufgaben & Struktur des BMLRT" (in German). BMLRT. Retrieved 4 February 2020.

External links

• Official homepage (in German)
• English version