MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The 50-year-old was appointed the 13th chancellor of Austria by President Heinz Fischer during a ceremony at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
Kern, the former chief of Austria’s state-run rail operator OBB, was nominated by the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPO) after Werner Faymann stepped down last week as the head of state and SPO leader saying he had lost support of his party.
On Thursday, Kern is set to present a reshuffled cabinet to the lower house of the national parliament, the National Council, and answer questions together with Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner.
