There have been changes of government in 21 EU countries in the last two legislative periods.
Six chancellors in just four years: we’re not talking about Italy, Spain or Bulgaria – but about Austria. We remember: In mid-December 2017, Sebastian Kurz took over as Prime Minister from Christian Kern, followed by Brigitte Bierlein, the Kurz II cabinet, Alexander Schallenberg and, since the beginning of December last year, Karl Nehammer. This volatility weighs doubly badly in times of overlapping permanent crises and an escalating war on European soil. It is all the more worrying that Austria is not an isolated case – and political upheavals in the EU have become the norm, as the management consultancy Pantarhei documents in a specially created instability index.
Three factors were used to compile the index: the number of parties in a government, the divergence between scheduled and early elections, and finally the number of government changes (replacement of the head of government) during the last two legislatures.