Wolfgang Brandstetter is an
independent Austrian politician and legal scholar who served as a member of the
Constitutional Court of Austria from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as the
Minister of Justice of Austria, as well as the country's
Vice Chancellor.
Career
In 2007 Brandstetter became director of the Institute for Austrian and European Economic Criminal Law at the
Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Brandstetter was chosen to be a member of the
Werner Faymann cabinet in December 2013, designated to serve as the country's Minister of Justice. He later succeeded
Reinhold Mitterlehner in becoming the
Vice-Chancellor of Austria in May 2017.
Brandtstetter left office upon the swearing-in of
Heinz-Christian Strache to his position on 18 December 2017. In 2018, he served as a special adviser to
Věra Jourová on rule-of-law issues.
Member of the Constitutional Court, 2018–2021
In February 2018 Brandstetter was appointed as a member of the
Constitutional Court of Austria.
When prosecutors opened a probe in 2021 into whether
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Sebastian Kurz had lied to a parliamentary committee investigating allegations of corruption by members of his previous government, Brandstetter also became a subject of criminal investigations.
In June 2021, Brandstetter resigned following the publication of a series of private text messages sent to him by former colleague Christian Pilnacek (suspended section head in the Austrian Ministry of Justice) containing sexist and racist language.
Honours
* Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein (11 February 2019).
Volksblatt
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References
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1957 births
Vice-Chancellors of Austria
University of Vienna alumni
Living people
Justice ministers of Austria
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