Minister from Upper Austria

This political trio will soon have a lot to say in Vienna

These three Upper Austrians will soon have a lot to say in Vienna: Claudia Plakolm (right) and Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (both ÖVP) and Eva-Maria Holzleitner (SPÖ) have been nominated for ministerial posts.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Wenzel, Plakolm)

Three favorites for ministerial posts have now been officially nominated: Eva-Maria Holzleitner (31), Claudia Plakolm (30) and Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (44) will become ministers in the Stocker government. What makes this Upper Austrian trio tick?

The three will probably not form a carpool, but they do have one thing in common: they are among the most important players in their parties, the ÖVP and SPÖ (short portraits in the slideshow below). The 31-year-old Eva-Maria Holzleitner is the deputy of party leader Andreas Babler and always comes into play when there is talk of the end of the Lower Austrian at the head of the party.

Holzleitner is seen as a personnel reserve after the Babler era
Despite the agreement on a government with the ÖVP and Neos, he remains controversial. There is little support for him from Upper Austria. Holzleitner, born in Wels, takes over the women's, science and research portfolio. The youngest of the bunch is 30-year-old Claudia Plakolm. She will be responsible for Family, EU, Youth and Integration.

Claudia Plakolm, Walding: She was once the youngest member of the National Council, former governor Josef Pühringer is considered to be her inventor. In 2016, she became the leader of the JVP in Upper Austria, from then on her career took off. She was a confidante of former Chancellor Karl Nehammer, but Christian Stocker also counts on her.

(Bild: krone.tv)

The Mühlviertel native is head of the Young ÖVP and is considered to be extremely well connected within the party. Her father is the ÖVP mayor of Walding in the Mühlviertel region, so she was born into a career in the black party. Holzleitner and she get on very well together; for a while, the two were the youngest members of parliament in Vienna.

Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer certainly has more plans...
Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (45) is at the peak of his career so far and has now decided to join the government as Economics Minister. But it won't stop there. It is quite possible that he will one day become leader of the federal ÖVP.