Memorial Page for Brigitte Bierlein

Brigitte Bierlein (born 25 June 1949 in Vienna; died 3 June 2024) was an Austrian jurist. She served as vice-president and later president of the Constitutional Court and in 2019 became Austria's first female chancellor. Her term at the head of a caretaker government fell into an exceptional political situation after the end of the first Kurz government.

Legal career

Bierlein studied law in Vienna and first worked as a judge, then as a public prosecutor. She served in the Vienna public prosecutor's office, the Vienna senior public prosecutor's office and the Procurator General's Office at the Supreme Court. For many years she was also active in the professional representation of public prosecutors. Her career was shaped by criminal law, judicial administration and the expectation that state institutions should work reliably.

Constitutional Court

In 2003 Bierlein became vice-president of the Austrian Constitutional Court. In February 2018 she succeeded Gerhart Holzinger as president of the court, becoming the first woman in that role as well. The Constitutional Court is central to the Austrian rule of law: it reviews legislation, decides constitutional questions and protects fundamental rights. Bierlein's work there made her known beyond the legal profession.

Chancellor in a transition period

After the Ibiza affair, the collapse of the governing coalition and the vote of no confidence against the Kurz government, President Alexander Van der Bellen asked Bierlein to form a federal government. On 3 June 2019 she was sworn in as chancellor. Her cabinet consisted mainly of non-partisan experts and was intended to lead Austria until the next elected government. The task required restraint, reliability and institutional stability rather than party-political self-promotion.

First female chancellor

Bierlein was in office for only a few months, but her appointment had significance beyond the transition period. She was the first woman at the head of the Austrian federal government and a jurist who moved from the Constitutional Court into government responsibility. On 7 January 2020 the Bierlein government ended. Afterward she largely withdrew from public politics.

Farewell

Brigitte Bierlein died on 3 June 2024 after a short serious illness. In Austria she was remembered as a jurist who took responsibility in a tense political situation. Her life connects justice, constitutional law and a moment when maintaining the state's capacity to act mattered more than party-political visibility.