ÖVP names Kurz confidant Gstöttner as new Secretary General

Most recently, Gstöttner headed the "Reform Partnership 2026" staff unit at the Federal Chancellery and was entrusted with coordinating key reform projects. In early 2026, the now-Chancellor Christian Stocker brought him into the Chancellery as a special representative, where he took over the leadership of the Reform Partnership staff unit.

Gstöttner's political career began in September 2017 as a political assistant in the ÖVP, before he moved in December 2017 as an economic advisor to the cabinet of the then Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. From January to May 2019, he was deputy cabinet chief and economic advisor to Kurz. In 2011, he moved to McKinsey & Company in London.

The path into politics

After stints in the private sector – in October 2022 followed the return to the private sector – Gstöttner returned to politics in 2021: Karl Nehammer at the time made him his cabinet chief. He held the role during Kurz's second chancellorship and also carried it out from October to December 2021 under interim chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.

In parallel, Gstöttner was active in the Vienna People's Party and sat for it from November 2020 to June 2025 in the Vienna City Council and Landtag. Even after his move to the Chancellery, he remained politically active and was most recently re-elected unanimously in his home district.

The reason for the personnel change is the withdrawal of Nico Marchetti. Marchetti will step down from his role as Secretary General of the party at the end of July, according to a press release titled "Personnel Changes in the Austrian People's Party." The 36-year-old Viennese Marchetti had recently come under increasing internal party pressure.

Marchetti's withdrawal

The press release stated: "In the nearly one and a half years, I have placed myself at the service of my party as a rather atypical secretary general, because I am deeply convinced of the Christian, conservative, and liberal values of the People's Party." Marchetti also emphasized: "The last few years, however, I was exclusively a career politician and I feel a great desire to build up a second mainstay alongside politics."

On Facebook, Marchetti responded to his withdrawal with the words: "Ich bin aus Überzeugung Sachpolitiker, ein Politiker der Mitte und mir liegt die feine Klinge mehr als der Bihänder." Referring to Marchetti's statement that he prefers "die feine Klinge mehr als der Bihänder," the new secretary general described his own preferences: "Im Inhalt durchaus gerne der Bihänder, aber im Ton sicher die feinere Klinge."

Party leader Stocker thanked Marchetti in the press release "for his prudent work as Secretary General over the past year and a half." Also on behalf of the People's Party, he paid tribute to his dedication: "Insbesondere danke ich ihm für sein Engagement, seine Loyalität und dafür, dass er in einer mehr als herausfordernden Zeit voller Umbrüche und Veränderungen sich dieser Aufgabe mit vollem Einsatz gewidmet hat."

Pressure from the federal states

Marchetti rose to ÖVP Secretary General in February 2025 following Alexander Pröll's move into government, when Stocker took over the party leadership. Even as Secretary General, Marchetti wanted to give the ÖVP a new "city strategy" to become competitive again in urban areas. In the federal states, people were repeatedly unhappy with his appearances and with the remarks perceived as clumsy.

Marchetti himself had only emphasized a few days earlier in a Kurier interview: "Ich fürchte mich nicht. Weder vor Kritik noch vor der FPÖ." He also let it be known that his critical stance toward the FPÖ is by no means shared by everyone in the ÖVP – especially not by those five state parties that govern with the Freedom Party. He also said: "Auch wenn die Erwartungshaltung von manchen so sein möge: Ich bin kein Posterboy einer ÖVP, die sich Kickl ergibt oder die Zweite Republik am Altar des Opportunismus opfert."

There was particular headshaking when Marchetti quite openly all but "recommended" the then APA chief Clemens Pig for the ORF Director General position. Marchetti will, however, remain in the National Council: the 36-year-old will continue to serve as a member of the National Council and education spokesperson, as well as district party chairman in Favoriten.

The Black Party is hovering at around 20 percent in current polls; in the 2024 National Council election, it was still 26.3 percent. Political scientist Peter Filzmaier conceded in the Ö1-Morgenjournal that Marchetti has an "undankbaren Job" as Secretary General: as the party's managing director, he must engage in "Mängelverwaltung" (deficit management).

Reactions from the coalition partners

Gstöttner himself spoke at the press conference with Stocker of a "gewissen Überraschung," saying he had been approached by the party leader "vor nicht allzu langer Zeit." ÖVP parliamentary group leader Ernst Gödl emphasized: "Mit Markus Gstöttner übernimmt ein erfahrener Fachmann und langjähriger Kenner der österreichischen Politik die Schlüsselfunktion des ÖVP-Generalsekretärs. Bundesparteiobmann und Bundeskanzler Christian Stocker hat die richtige Wahl getroffen."

Wirtschaftsbund Secretary General Tanja Graf said: "Markus Gstöttner verfügt über politische Erfahrung, strategisches Gespür und ein tiefes Verständnis für Wirtschaft und unsere Betriebe. Unsere Unternehmerinnen und Unternehmer sichern Beschäftigung, Wohlstand und regionale Wertschöpfung im ganzen Land."

Open questions in the Vienna ÖVP

The SPÖ and NEOS also thanked Marchetti for the cooperation. SPÖ federal executive Klaus Seltenheim emphasized: "Eine Dreierkoalition in herausfordernden Zeiten erfordert intensiven Dialog und Kompromissbereitschaft." NEOS Secretary General Douglas Hoyos said: "Auch wenn eine Dreierkoalition naturgemäß mit unterschiedlichen Positionen in dem einen oder anderen Thema verbunden ist, hat Nico Marchetti in seiner Rolle als Generalsekretär seine Kompromissbereitschaft und die Offenheit zum guten Gespräch ausgezeichnet."

Meanwhile, personnel speculation persists in the Vienna ÖVP: rumors circulate that Figl, who is also district mayor in Vienna's 1st district, could play a role. The background is also the memory of the time when Gernot Blümel stepped down as state party chairman in 2021 – at the time Karl Mahrer was only supposed to be the "Übergangslösung" before the position would go to Marchetti. Mahrer liked the job, he stayed – and lost the 2025 election.