Federal Ministry of Defence (Austria)


The Federal Ministry of Defence of Austria is the ministry in charge of all matters relating to military affairs, especially the Austrian Armed Forces. Its current minister is Klaudia Tanner.

Authority

The minister is head of all the ministry's subordinate authorities and is the Supreme Military Commander of the Austrian Armed Forces. For certain acts, such as deployment of more than 5,000 men of the militia or reserve, the Minister for Defense's authorization is bound to the President of Austria, since in these cases the constitutional command of the army takes precedence.

Responsibilities

Specifically, the Ministry is responsible for matters regarding:
Subordinate to the ministry are the:
Defense and sport were combined in the same ministry from 2009 till 2018.

Defense Ministry

Previous to 1918, there was a Ministry of War for the whole of Austria-Hungary and a Ministry of Defense solely for the Austrian half of the empire. The defence ministry took on various names during the First Austrian Republic of 1918 to 1938, and was abolished during Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria from 1938 to 1945. During the Allied occupation of Austria from 1945 to 1956, the defence agenda was in the remit of the "Office for National Defense", a section in the Federal Chancellery.

Sports Ministry

Sport first became a government portfolio in Austria in 1966, as part of the remit of the Federal Ministry of Education, which in 1984 was renamed the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Sports. In 1991 sport was moved to the Federal Ministry of Health, Sport and Consumer Protection, then in 1995 to the Federal Chancellery, in 2000 to the Federal Ministry of the Civil Service and Sports, in 2003 back to the Federal Chancellery and in 2009 joined the Federal Ministry of Defense and Sports. In 2018, the sports agenda was moved to the Ministry of Civil Service and Sport.