Ministry of the Interior (Austria)

Federal Ministry of the Interior

Bundesministerium für Inneres
Agency overview
Formed	1848; 176 years ago (1848) as Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Interior
Preceding agency	Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Interior (1848)
Jurisdiction	Government of Austria
Status	Highest federal authority
Headquarters	Palais Modena Innere Stadt, Vienna 48°12′33″N 16°21′57″E / 48.20917°N 16.36583°E / 48.20917; 16.36583
Annual budget	€2.850 billion (2019)[1]
Minister responsible	Gerhard Karner
Child agencies	Directorate General for the Public Security Federal Police Federal Criminal Police Office DSN EKO Cobra
Website	www.bmi.gv.at

In Austria, the Ministry of the Interior (German: Bundesministerium für Inneres, colloquially Innenministerium, abbreviated: BMI) is a federal government agency serving as the interior ministry of the Austrian government. It is chiefly responsible for the public security, but also deals with matters relating to citizenship, elections, referendums, plebiscites and the alternative civilian service. The Ministry of the Interior is considered one of the most important ministries in Austria

It operates and oversees the vast majority of the country's law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Police, the Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service (DSN), the Bureau for Anticorruption (BAK), the Cobra Mission Command (EKO Cobra), the Aerial Police Force, and the Special Observatory Unit (SEO). The Directorate General for the Public Security, which is primarily made up of career law enforcement officers, serves as the professional governing body of all these agencies, except for the BAK. Federal law enforcement agencies outside of the ministry's control include the Military Police, the Fiscal Police, and the Judiciary Guard.

The Palais Modena is the ministry's central headquarters, it is situated in the centre of Austria's capital Vienna.