New Financial City Council in Vienna: Who will follow Peter Hanke?

New Financial City Council in Vienna: Who will follow Peter Hanke?

Vienna, Österreich - The Vienna SPÖ faces an important upheaval: After the surprising change of financial and economic councilor Peter Hanke as Minister of Infrastructure to the federal government, Georg Maschek is now being considered as a temporary successor. This step was officially confirmed by the SPÖ on Friday, and Maschek's logging in could already take place in the coming week, whereby a municipal council must be convened to secure this process. There is currently no official invitation to this date, such as vienna.at reported.

preparation for the Vienna election

The upheaval comes at a critical time when the Viennese election is due on April 27th. Until then, Mayor Michael Ludwig will have to fall back on traffic councilor Ulli Sima and another expert to manage the finance department. The SPÖ is already planning to succeed Hanke, whereby Barbara Novak is being considered a possible candidate. She is Vice Chair of the Finance Committee in the Vienna municipal council and is considered close confidants of Ludwig. These personal details show the strategic considerations of the SPÖ to secure their position in the new city government, such as

While Ludwig plans to continue with his team after the election, Novak's responsibilities could complicate their prospect of office in the ongoing election campaign. Traditionally, party managers rise to the city government after a successful election campaign, but this time Novomatic could face special challenges because their role remains decisive during the election campaign. The development leaves a question mark about the future composition of the city government and shows how closely party strategies and personnel decisions are linked.