Austria will receive its third health minister within two years of the corona pandemic next week.

On Friday it was confirmed that the Green politician Johannes Rauch should succeed Wolfgang Mückstein, who announced his resignation on Thursday.

So far, Rauch has worked as a state councilor (state minister) in Vorarlberg, where, as in the federal government, an ÖVP/Green coalition governs.

The Greens chairman Werner Kogler praised him as a "veteran" and "professional with depth and vision".

Rauch takes over the office at a time when important decisions are being made in the fight against epidemics.

On the one hand, almost all corona protective measures that restrict public life are canceled.

On the other hand, a decision must be made on how to proceed with the general obligation to vaccinate.

Stephen Lowenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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From this Saturday onwards, there will no longer be an obligation to prove a vaccination or a negative test, neither for events nor in the catering trade.

Only in nursing homes and hospitals do visitors have to comply with the 3 G rule.

Only the state of Vienna makes use of the possibility of stricter rules and is still prescribing 2 G in gastronomy for the time being.

The curfew also falls, night gastronomy is allowed to open again for the first time since last autumn.

There, too, there is no longer any obligation to provide proof.

Individual clubs wanted to use this to open one minute after midnight.

There is still one restriction for events such as wedding celebrations: For gatherings of more than 50 people, a prevention concept must be drawn up, which the district administration authorities will monitor.

Go to the restaurant without a mask

The masks also fall three days after the end of carnival, but not everywhere.

Trade and restaurants may generally be entered with an open face;

this is already the case in schools.

Excluded are "business premises that inevitably have to be entered by vulnerable groups of people", such as grocery stores, banks, public transport and the like.

The staff can be released from this if they sit behind Plexiglas panes, for example.

The vaccination requirement, which has been in force since the beginning of February according to the law, is the most politically charged.

So far, however, it has not yet been controlled by the authorities or even enforced with penal measures.

This should actually take place when a “phase 2” begins in mid-March.

Before that, however, an evaluation by a panel of experts is activated.

The previous Minister of Health Mückstein, but also Chancellor Karl Nehammer, increasingly gave the impression that they were open to suspending the coercive measures if the Commission offered them a basis for doing so.

So that will be among the very first decisions for the new health secretary, whose 'inauguration' is scheduled for next week.

Provided that Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen can

Mückstein had long been criticized for his lack of assertiveness and incoherent communication, but his resignation after less than a year in office came as a surprise.

He justified it with official fatigue: He was no longer able to fulfill his tasks one hundred percent, as was necessary.

Especially since the decision to introduce compulsory vaccinations in Austria, there have been threats of violence against him and his family.

Having to live permanently under police protection is not tolerable for long, said Mückstein in his very personal speech.

The doctor had not held any political office before he was brought in as a career changer in April 2021 to step into the front row as a specialist in combating the pandemic.

Now it should be a medically unsophisticated,

Kogler already attested to the necessary conflict and communication skills of his long-time companion.

Rauch is "one who can and will speak clear words," said the Greens leader and Vice Chancellor.

He knows politics at the municipal, state and federal level, has negotiated the turquoise-green government program in relevant places and is "also someone who is able to deal with political resistance".

The future minister described organizing preparations for autumn and winter as his priority task in combating the pandemic.

Once before, people felt safe, said Rauch: "We shouldn't make the same mistakes twice or three times.

The virus has surprised us again and again.

When asked, however, he made it clear: “I wear a mask wherever I can.” Corona measures should be taken as much as necessary and as little as possible.

And it should be communicated in an understandable way: "If people don't know their way around, no pandemic can be fought."