Six women, six men form transitional cabinet in Austria

Vienna - A gender-balanced caretaker government of senior public officials was sworn in on Monday in Austria by President Alexander Van der Bellen, who tasked the cabinet with managing national affairs until upcoming early elections.

The expert government was formed after the coalition led by conservative party chief Sebastian Kurz collapsed over a video sting that raised corruption allegations against Kurz's far-right coalition partners.

"I am convinced that the new government will represent Austria politically, diplomatically and likeably ... as a confident country in the heart of Europe," Van der Bellen said.

The new expert government is led by Austria's first female chancellor, Brigitte Bierlein, who took leave as president of the Constitutional Court to switch to politics.

Among the six women and six men in her cabinet is Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, a senior diplomat, and Eduard Mueller, who was promoted from top-level Finance Ministry official to finance minister.

Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl, previously Austria's chief cultural heritage manager, was appointed economic affairs minister, while senior social policy expert Brigitte Zarfl took over the Social Affairs and Health Ministry.

Bierlein's only controversial pick is Transport Minister Andreas Reichhardt. According to several Austrian media outlets, he took part in extreme right-wing militia training as a young man, together with former far-right leader Heinz-Christian Strache.

Strache stepped down as vice chancellor over the video scandal last month, causing Kurz to call early elections that are expected to take place in September.