Even though the Republic of Austria has always had a large public sector and a considerable number of career civil servants, the country does not usually maintain a dedicated civil service ministry. Traditionally, the interest of Austria's civil servants (
Beamte) were protected by their strong union (the
Beamtengewerkschaft) and by the fact that civil servants were overrepresented among the upper ranks of every major political party. Public employment policy was set, and public employment law written, by the
Chancellery and the
Ministry of Finance. A precursor of the current Ministry called the Ministry of Public Services and Sports (
Bundesministerium für öffentliche Leistungen und Sport) was established by the
Schüssel I cabinet in 2000, then unceremoniously disestablished by the
Schüssel II cabinet in 2003. Its responsibilities were attached to the Chancellery. The Ministry was resurrected by the
First Kurz cabinet in 2018 as
Federal Ministry of the Civil Service and Sport. On 29 January 2020, it was renamed
Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport by the
Second Kurz government. == Responsibilities ==