Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Aug 2, 2026

Gerhard Karner

Gerhard Karner is an Austrian politician currently serving as minister of the interior. From 2003, Karner was a member of the Lower Austrian state legislature. From 2003 to 2015, he was managing director of the People's Party of Lower Austria (VPNÖ). Following the 2015 mayoral election, he became mayor of Texingtal and retained this position until 2021.

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Aug 2, 2026
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Gerhard Karner
Official portrait, 2013
Minister of the Interior
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 December 2021
ChancellorKarl Nehammer
Christian Stocker
Preceded byKarl Nehammer
Member of the Landtag of Lower Austria
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 March 2003
Personal details
Born (1967-11-13) 13 November 1967
Melk, Lower Austria
PartyPeople's
Children3
Alma materVienna University of Economics and Business
CabinetNehammer

Gerhard Karner (born 13 November 1967) is an Austrian politician currently serving as minister of the interior. From 2003, Karner was a member of the Lower Austrian state legislature. From 2003 to 2015, he was managing director of the People's Party of Lower Austria (VPNÖ). Following the 2015 mayoral election, he became mayor of Texingtal and retained this position until 2021.

Life

Gerhard Karner spent his childhood and youth in St. Gotthard (municipality of Texingtal) and graduated from Melk Abbey High School, later studying business administration at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He then worked in the private sector as a press officer for the Lower Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). He later served as press spokesman for Interior Minister Ernst Strasser, and as a regional manager of the ÖVP Lower Austria.

Politics

Karner was politically active as a local councilor in Texingtal from 1995, and from 24 April 2003 also as an ÖVP member in the Lower Austrian state parliament. Karner was security spokesman for the ÖVP state parliament club.1 On 22 October 2015, he became second president of the state parliament.2 In the same year he was also mayor of Texingtal. On 3 December 2021, he was nominated as Minister of the Interior in the designated federal government of Nehammer and sworn in by the Federal President on 6 December 2021.3 he lay with his swearing in as Minister down all communal and national political offices.4

His state parliament mandate went to Marlene Zeidler-Beck,5 as second state parliament president Karl Moser should succeed him.6

On 8 December 2022 he was one of the architects of blocking Romania's and Bulgaria's access to the Schengen area.7

Following the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023, Karner adopted a strict stance toward anti-Israel demonstrations in Austria. He supported the prohibition of several protests and advocated the full use of legal measures against individuals accused of spreading antisemitic rhetoric or calling for the destruction of Israel.8

In June 2026, during a meeting of the European Union's Justice and Home Affairs Council, Karner supported reviewing the EU's migration framework regarding the Temporary Protection Directive, an EU emergency mechanism granting immediate collective protection to displaced persons. He voiced Austria's support for ending the automatic temporary protection status for newly arriving Ukrainian men of military age beginning in March 2027, arguing that Ukraine requires this demographic to support its domestic economy and sustain its national defense amidst the ongoing Ukrainian conscription crisis.910

Criticism

Adolf Hitler's birthplace in Braunau am Inn source ↗

Even before he became Minister of the Interior, he was criticized by left-wing historians as mayor. The Texingtal community, of which he was mayor, has been running the Dollfuss Museum in the original birthplace of Engelbert Dollfuss since 1998. In 2018 Karner wanted to deal with the "controversial person Dollfuss". However, Karner saw nothing worth questioning about the uncritical museum.11 Despite widespread criticism, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner planned on sticking to the plans of his predecessors, Wolfgang Peschorn and Karl Nehammer, and moving the Braunau district police command to Adolf Hitler's birthplace.12

Anti-Semitism allegations

Shortly after he was sworn in as Minister of the Interior, accusations of anti-Semitism were raised against him in a press release from his time as state manager of the ÖVP Lower Austria.1314 In this press release he accused the SPÖ of Lower Austria of working "with gentlemen from America and Israel against the country", with which Karner used anti-Semitic stereotypes for the Jewish Austrian students (JöH).1516 For this reason, the JöH initiated an open letter in which they called for the office of Minister of the Interior to be filled. The signers of this letter include the writer Elfriede Jelinek, the author Doron Rabinovici and the former OGH President Irmgard Griss. Karner defended himself by saying that taking a stand against anti-Semitism was a "personal concern" to him and that during the election campaign "words and sentences were generally used that one would probably no longer use in the same way afterwards".17 He later publicly apologized for these claims.

Awards

  • 2014: Great Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria18
  • 2019: Golden Commander's Cross of Honor for Services to the State of Lower Austria19
References

References

  1. Kronen Zeitung: A cup of coffee in the state police station. VP security spokesman, 2 June 2009
  2. "Mag. Gerhard Karner – NÖ Landtag".
  3. "Karner, Brunner - und ein neues junges Gesicht". 3 December 2021.
  4. "Texingtal braucht neuen Bürgermeister: Karner als Innenminister angelobt".
  5. "Marlene Zeidler-Beck: Vom Bundesrat in den Landtag". 5 December 2021.
  6. "Karl Moser wird Zweiter Landtagspräsident". 6 December 2021.
  7. "Gerhard Karner, ministrul de interne austriac - "Astăzi voi vota contra extinderii Schengen cu România și Bulgaria"". 8 December 2022.
  8. "Karner über Anti-Israel-Demos: "Dreht mir den Magen um"". Heute. 23 October 2023.
  9. "Ministers discuss future of Ukrainian refugees after temporary protection deadline". The New Voice of Ukraine. 4 June 2026.
  10. Kravchenko, Vitalii (4 June 2026). "Austria proposes ending automatic EU protection for Ukrainian men of conscription age". Ukrinform.
  11. "Der designierte Innenminister und das Dollfuß-Museum in seiner Heimat".
  12. Lagetar, Magdalena (17 February 2022). "Der Umbau des Hitlerhauses beginnt im Herbst". Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten (in Austrian German). Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  13. "Calls for removal of new Austrian interior minister after accusation of antisemitism". The Times of Israel.
  14. "Austria's New Interior Minister Accused of Antisemitism". Bloomberg.com. 13 December 2021.
  15. "New Austrian interior minister Gerhard Karner rejects allegations of antisemitism". 15 December 2021.
  16. "Austria's new interior minister rejects allegations of antisemitism". 13 December 2021.
  17. "Rücktrittsaufforderung an Innenminister Karner wegen antisemitischer Rhetorik" (in Austrian German). Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  18. "Ehrenzeichenverleihung an ehemalige und amtierende Abgeordnete".
  19. "Ehrenzeichen für 18 ehemalige und amtierende Landtagsabgeordnete".