Wolfgang Schüssel
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Schüssel (ˈvɔlfɡaŋ ˈʃʏsəl; born 7 June 1945) is an Austria
n People's Party
politician. He was Chancellor of Austria
for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognized as a rare example of an active reformer in contemporary Austrian politics, his governments were also highly controversial from the beginning, starting with the fact that he formed a coalition government with Jörg Haider
s FPÖ
on both occasions. In 2011, he retired from being an active member of parliament due to charges of corruption against members of his governments.
, Schüssel attended that city's Schottengymnasium, a well known Roman Catholic
gymnasium
for boys, where he took his Matura
exams in 1963. He went on to study at the University of Vienna
, receiving a Doctorate
in Law
in 1968.
Schüssel was secretary of the parliamentary group of the Austrian People's Party from 1968 to 1975. From 1975 to 1991, he was Secretary General of the Austrian Business Federation, a sub-organization of the Austrian People's Party.
(SPÖ
) formed by the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Austrian People's Party
(ÖVP
).
On 22 April 1995, at the 30th Party Congress of the ÖVP, Schüssel was elected national leader of the Austrian People's Party.
On 4 May 1995, Wolfgang Schüssel was sworn in as Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs in Franz Vranitzky's fourth government. He held the same posts in Chancellor Vranitzky’s fifth Cabinet. In Chancellor Viktor Klima
's (SPÖ) first government, from 28 January 1997 to 4 February 2000, Schüssel was again Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.
's Freedom Party (FPÖ
) by 415 votes. Until then, his party had been the junior partner in a coalition with the SPÖ
. However, talks to renew that coalition failed, which induced Schüssel to enter a coalition with the Freedom Party. He became Chancellor, even though his party ranked only third, by a narrow margin.
The government headed by Schüssel was - in its beginnings - probably the most controversial since 1945, which to a large extent is due to the coalition
formed with the populist right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), whose leader at that time was Jörg Haider
. Although Haider was never a member of Schüssel's government, his participation raised widespread criticism, both inside and outside of Austria.
Between 2000 and 2002 there were weekly Donnerstagsdemonstrationen (Thursday Demonstrations) through the city and the inner districts of Vienna
. The coalition with the Austrian Freedom Party and various policies aiming at achieving the much-maligned Nulldefizit (zero budget deficit) were the main points of criticism.
, Germany's chancellor Gerhard Schröder
, and leading Belgian politicians) ostracized the members of the Schüssel government, refusing basic social interaction and keeping unavoidable contacts to the legally required minimum. (However, the very same European Union politicians had not even considered such measures against Italy earlier in 1994, or afterwards in 2001, when the highly controversial Silvio Berlusconi
established his governments with right-wing Alleanza Nazionale
and the outspokenly anti-European Lega Nord.)
Government supporters often blamed the opposition social democrats
and President Thomas Klestil
for the so-called "sanctions" imposed by the EU14 and their loyalty to the country was thus put into question. Indeed, the UK's mass circulation paper The Guardian
had reported during the decisive days of Schüssel's negotiations that "Austria's caretaker chancellor, Viktor Klima, urged fellow EU leaders to help influence the coalition bargaining," and that as a result "diplomats said that while an EU meeting was unlikely on constitutional grounds, the issue could be discussed by leaders of the Socialist International
."
Schüssel's government was the first after 30 years with a Chancellor
who was not a representative of the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ). Schüssel's ÖVP had been a member of all governments from 1945 to 1970 and from 1986 onwards, but had never been completely excluded from power (even though its influence was considerably attenuated during Bruno Kreisky
's era) because the tradition of social partnership
meant that representatives of all major interest groups in the country would be consulted before any policy was enacted. When Schüssel came into power, he broke with that tradition, which many Austrians had considered an unwritten part of the constitution, in order to be able to rapidly implement reforms that he felt to be necessary. Government supporters claimed this to be the true reason for the demonstrations and for the so-called "sanctions".
The organized unfriedliness carried on for months while both the Austrian government (and - behind the scenes - also the EU-14) sought a solution for the untenable situation. Because the "sanctions" were only a means of coordinated diplomatic behavior and not founded in the EU-Charter, EU-law did not provide a way out. After a couple of months a delegation of 3 experts (die drei EU-Weisen) was sent to Austria to examine the political situation and to determine if the EU-14's "sanctions" could be lifted. Their report did not find reasons that would permit the other EU-members according to then existing EU-law to engage in further measures going beyond those that are allowed in international law
. However, the more important conclusion the report draw was that a framework for exactly these kind of situations should be implemented and incorporated into EU-law. This subsequently happened with the amendments to the EU-treaties in Nice
in 2001. Following the report, the EU leaders tacitly returned to normality during the summer of 2000 even though the Austrian government remained unchanged, allowing the center-right parties to claim a sort of "victory".
Though the "sanctions" did little material damage, their psychological effect was lasting and profound. In Austria, they essentially ended the broad popular support which the European Union had initially enjoyed in the country. In the populations of some EU member states, the frequently highly manipulative media coverage of the affair reinforced simmering anti-Austrian prejudices that dated back many decades, or even to World War I.
and Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser
, announced their resignation, Schüssel broke the coalition and announced general elections, which were held prematurely in November 2002 and led to a landslide victory for Schüssel. However, after negotiating for months with both the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Green Party
, Schüssel decided to renew his coalition government with the Freedom Party, which had been reduced to a mere 10 percent of the vote. On 28 February 2003 he was sworn in as Chancellor again, this time with the confidence of having won the elections.
In April 2005, the FPÖ effectively split in to two parties, namely the old FPÖ and the new Alliance for the Future of Austria
(BZÖ), which at the time consisted of Jörg Haider
, the former FPÖ government members and most FPÖ members of the National Council of Austria
, while the party base in most states
remained with the old party. In spite of this change in the nature of his coalition partner, Schüssel continued the coalition until the end of the current legislative period (see Austrian legislative election, 2006
). However, after the election Schüssel mentioned that a coalition with Haider's party or the Freedom Party wouldn't be reasonable.
Following the death of Liese Prokop
on 31 December 2006, Schüssel was sworn in as interior minister on 2 January 2007, and served in this additional post until a new government was formed, which occurred on 11 January.
, Schüssel became Chairman of the ÖVP Parliamentary Group. He announced after the September 2008 election
that he would continue to sit in parliament only as a backbencher; Josef Pröll
was to replace him as Chairman of the ÖVP Parliamentary Group. In 2011, Schüssel retired from parliament due to massive charges of corruption against members of the governments led by him.
(called "Nulldefizit")– while being more successful than similar attempts in some other European countries– have failed. Some of the effect was reached by raising taxes and fees, but quite significant cost-cutting measures were undertaken, many of which caused significant criticism. For example, the Austrian education system has suffered considerably, as is shown by the PISA
study released in 2004. Costs are being cut at universities
, even though the government proclaims that it will bring teaching and research to a "world-class" level. Cost-cutting in the security sector is blamed for an increase in crime
.
At the same time, Schüssel's government increased public spending in certain areas. For example, the new "Kindergeld" (children money) to help families replaced the old "Karenzgeld", which was dependent on the recipient standing in employment. This change was a nod to a Freedom Party, which had campaigned for this measure.
The decision to replace the old Draken fighter planes of the Bundesheer with 18 Eurofighter
s
(originally 24 were ordered, this number was reduced after the 2002 floods) was seen as waste of money by the opposition, most of all because of the attempts to save money in almost every area of the public administration. The government's arguments for this was that the Austrian State Treaty
, according to which Austria needs to be able to defend herself, is to be read to imply that Austria must be in complete control of her air space. The opposition argued that this goal could have been reached in a much cheaper way.
Starting from around 2030, the unfavorable structure of the population pyramid
will create a ratio of active to retired workers of 1:1. Schüssel's pension reform has led to reduction of future pensions and at the same time a raising of the retirement age
. Schüssel's reform of the Austrian pension
system is more broad-sweeping and thus more likely to be effective than all previous reforms in this area combined. However, experts insist that it should have been still more ambitious, but despite of this fact the SPÖ and the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (ÖGB) protested heavily and argued that the pension losses, limited by Schüssel to 10% and later reduced to 5%, were excessive.
Recent efforts to reform the military and to create a uniform pension system are proceeding. One result of the military reform is by many hoped to be a reduction of the mandatory military service to six months, or even an abolition of military service. From 2005 onwards, corporate tax
will be reduced to 25%, which is hoped to stimulate investment and economic growth. The measure is thought to be necessary, as neighboring countries which recently entered the EU, such as Slovakia
, have even lower tax rates. However, critics sometimes argue that such a tax advantage for firms is unfair to other tax payers (the highest tax bracket for personal income tax is 50%) and may even be unconstitutional.
in holding the European Council Presidency on 1 January 2006. In the presence of German
Chancellor Angela Merkel
, Schüssel promised to lead the European Union "Hand in Hand" with Germany, and Merkel promised that Germany would do everything to "help" Austria during its presidency and make it a success. Schüssel also stated that Austria needed "some friends of the presidency". This led to Brussels diplomats describing the Austrian presidency as "the small German presidency", according to French newspaper Le Figaro
.
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Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n People's Party
Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...
politician. He was Chancellor of Austria
Chancellor of Austria
The Federal Chancellor is the head of government in Austria. Its deputy is the Vice-Chancellor. Before 1918, the equivalent office was the Minister-President of Austria. The Federal Chancellor is considered to be the most powerful political position in Austrian politics.-Appointment:The...
for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognized as a rare example of an active reformer in contemporary Austrian politics, his governments were also highly controversial from the beginning, starting with the fact that he formed a coalition government with Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
s FPÖ
FPO
FPO may refer to:*Fleet Post Office, a "city" designation in military mail *Field post office, a term for military post offices in military mail systems *For position only, a designation for placeholder graphics...
on both occasions. In 2011, he retired from being an active member of parliament due to charges of corruption against members of his governments.
Early life, education, and start in politics
Born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Schüssel attended that city's Schottengymnasium, a well known Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
for boys, where he took his Matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
exams in 1963. He went on to study at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, receiving a Doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
in 1968.
Schüssel was secretary of the parliamentary group of the Austrian People's Party from 1968 to 1975. From 1975 to 1991, he was Secretary General of the Austrian Business Federation, a sub-organization of the Austrian People's Party.
Minister in the "Grand Coalition"
He became Minister for Economic Affairs on 24 April 1989 in a coalition government under Chancellor Franz VranitzkyFranz Vranitzky
Franz Vranitzky is an Austrian politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria , he was Chancellor of Austria from 1986 to 1997.-Early life and career:...
(SPÖ
SPO
- Technology :SPO: Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Cloud Computing, Office 365. See Microsoft Online Services-Economics:* Secondary Public Offering, an equity capital market instrument...
) formed by the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Austrian People's Party
Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...
(ÖVP
OVP
OVP is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:*The Office of the Vice President of the United States*The Office of the Vice President of the Philippines*OVP , a light sub-machine gun developed in Italy...
).
On 22 April 1995, at the 30th Party Congress of the ÖVP, Schüssel was elected national leader of the Austrian People's Party.
On 4 May 1995, Wolfgang Schüssel was sworn in as Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs in Franz Vranitzky's fourth government. He held the same posts in Chancellor Vranitzky’s fifth Cabinet. In Chancellor Viktor Klima
Viktor Klima
Viktor Klima is an Austrian Social Democrat politician and businessman. He was chancellor of Austria from 1997 to 2000.-Early career:...
's (SPÖ) first government, from 28 January 1997 to 4 February 2000, Schüssel was again Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The Schüssel I government
On 4 February 2000 Wolfgang Schüssel was sworn in as Chancellor, following a defeat in the 1999 election, after which his party ended up trailing Jörg HaiderJörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
's Freedom Party (FPÖ
FPO
FPO may refer to:*Fleet Post Office, a "city" designation in military mail *Field post office, a term for military post offices in military mail systems *For position only, a designation for placeholder graphics...
) by 415 votes. Until then, his party had been the junior partner in a coalition with the SPÖ
SPO
- Technology :SPO: Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Cloud Computing, Office 365. See Microsoft Online Services-Economics:* Secondary Public Offering, an equity capital market instrument...
. However, talks to renew that coalition failed, which induced Schüssel to enter a coalition with the Freedom Party. He became Chancellor, even though his party ranked only third, by a narrow margin.
The government headed by Schüssel was - in its beginnings - probably the most controversial since 1945, which to a large extent is due to the coalition
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
formed with the populist right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), whose leader at that time was Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
. Although Haider was never a member of Schüssel's government, his participation raised widespread criticism, both inside and outside of Austria.
Between 2000 and 2002 there were weekly Donnerstagsdemonstrationen (Thursday Demonstrations) through the city and the inner districts of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. The coalition with the Austrian Freedom Party and various policies aiming at achieving the much-maligned Nulldefizit (zero budget deficit) were the main points of criticism.
The "EU Sanctions"
In an attempt to pressure Schüssel's democratically elected government into submission, the heads of the governments of the other 14 EU members decided to cease cooperation with the Austrian government, as it was felt in many countries that the cordon sanitaire against coalitions with parties considered as right-wing extremists, which had mostly held in Western Europe since 1945, had been breached. Because nothing in the legal framework of the European Union supported an official measure, informal (and officially non-existent) "sanctions" were imposed by mutual consent. For several months, other national leaders (most of all France's president Jacques ChiracJacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, Germany's chancellor Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...
, and leading Belgian politicians) ostracized the members of the Schüssel government, refusing basic social interaction and keeping unavoidable contacts to the legally required minimum. (However, the very same European Union politicians had not even considered such measures against Italy earlier in 1994, or afterwards in 2001, when the highly controversial Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
established his governments with right-wing Alleanza Nazionale
National Alliance (Italy)
National Alliance was a conservative political party in Italy.Gianfranco Fini was the leader of the party since its foundation in 1995, however he stepped down in 2008 after being elected to the nominally non-partisan post of President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and was succeeded by...
and the outspokenly anti-European Lega Nord.)
Government supporters often blamed the opposition social democrats
SPO
- Technology :SPO: Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Cloud Computing, Office 365. See Microsoft Online Services-Economics:* Secondary Public Offering, an equity capital market instrument...
and President Thomas Klestil
Thomas Klestil
Thomas Klestil was an Austrian diplomat and politician. He was elected the tenth President of Austria in 1992 and was re-elected to the position in 1998...
for the so-called "sanctions" imposed by the EU14 and their loyalty to the country was thus put into question. Indeed, the UK's mass circulation paper The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
had reported during the decisive days of Schüssel's negotiations that "Austria's caretaker chancellor, Viktor Klima, urged fellow EU leaders to help influence the coalition bargaining," and that as a result "diplomats said that while an EU meeting was unlikely on constitutional grounds, the issue could be discussed by leaders of the Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
."
Schüssel's government was the first after 30 years with a Chancellor
Chancellor of Austria
The Federal Chancellor is the head of government in Austria. Its deputy is the Vice-Chancellor. Before 1918, the equivalent office was the Minister-President of Austria. The Federal Chancellor is considered to be the most powerful political position in Austrian politics.-Appointment:The...
who was not a representative of the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ). Schüssel's ÖVP had been a member of all governments from 1945 to 1970 and from 1986 onwards, but had never been completely excluded from power (even though its influence was considerably attenuated during Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky was an Austrian politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldest acting Chancellor after World War II....
's era) because the tradition of social partnership
Social Partnership
Social partnership is the term used for the tripartite, triennial national pay agreements reached in Ireland.The process was initiated in 1987, following a period of high inflation and weak economic growth which led to increased emigration and unsustainable government borrowing and national debt...
meant that representatives of all major interest groups in the country would be consulted before any policy was enacted. When Schüssel came into power, he broke with that tradition, which many Austrians had considered an unwritten part of the constitution, in order to be able to rapidly implement reforms that he felt to be necessary. Government supporters claimed this to be the true reason for the demonstrations and for the so-called "sanctions".
The organized unfriedliness carried on for months while both the Austrian government (and - behind the scenes - also the EU-14) sought a solution for the untenable situation. Because the "sanctions" were only a means of coordinated diplomatic behavior and not founded in the EU-Charter, EU-law did not provide a way out. After a couple of months a delegation of 3 experts (die drei EU-Weisen) was sent to Austria to examine the political situation and to determine if the EU-14's "sanctions" could be lifted. Their report did not find reasons that would permit the other EU-members according to then existing EU-law to engage in further measures going beyond those that are allowed in international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. However, the more important conclusion the report draw was that a framework for exactly these kind of situations should be implemented and incorporated into EU-law. This subsequently happened with the amendments to the EU-treaties in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
in 2001. Following the report, the EU leaders tacitly returned to normality during the summer of 2000 even though the Austrian government remained unchanged, allowing the center-right parties to claim a sort of "victory".
Though the "sanctions" did little material damage, their psychological effect was lasting and profound. In Austria, they essentially ended the broad popular support which the European Union had initially enjoyed in the country. In the populations of some EU member states, the frequently highly manipulative media coverage of the affair reinforced simmering anti-Austrian prejudices that dated back many decades, or even to World War I.
The Schüssel II government
By the summer of 2002, a series of lost elections had resulted in considerable internal strife in the FPÖ, which was instigated by Haider and some of his closest allies. When the leading proponents of the more pragmatic wing of this party, Vice Chancellor Susanne Riess-PasserSusanne Riess-Passer
Susanne Riess-Passer is a former Austrian politician of the Freedom Party of Austria .In the first government headed by Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, which was inaugurated in 2000, she became Vice Chancellor and minister of public services and sports, representing her party in the coalition with...
and Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser
Karl-Heinz Grasser
Karl-Heinz Grasser is a former Austrian politician who held the office of Austrian Minister of Finance from February 2000 to January 2007 as a member of the two subsequent governments of Wolfgang Schüssel...
, announced their resignation, Schüssel broke the coalition and announced general elections, which were held prematurely in November 2002 and led to a landslide victory for Schüssel. However, after negotiating for months with both the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Green Party
Austrian Green Party
The Greens – The Green Alternative is a political party in the Austrian parliament.The party was formed in 1986 with the name Grüne Alternative, following the merger of the more conservative Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs and the more progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs The...
, Schüssel decided to renew his coalition government with the Freedom Party, which had been reduced to a mere 10 percent of the vote. On 28 February 2003 he was sworn in as Chancellor again, this time with the confidence of having won the elections.
In April 2005, the FPÖ effectively split in to two parties, namely the old FPÖ and the new Alliance for the Future of Austria
Alliance for the Future of Austria
The Alliance for the Future of Austria , abbreviated to BZÖ, is a conservative liberal political party in Austria. The party has sixteen seats in the National Council....
(BZÖ), which at the time consisted of Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
, the former FPÖ government members and most FPÖ members of the National Council of Austria
National Council of Austria
The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
, while the party base in most states
States of Austria
Austria is a federal republic made up of nine states, known in German as Länder . Since Land is also the German word for a country, the term Bundesländer is often used instead to avoid ambiguity. The Constitution of Austria uses both terms...
remained with the old party. In spite of this change in the nature of his coalition partner, Schüssel continued the coalition until the end of the current legislative period (see Austrian legislative election, 2006
Austrian legislative election, 2006
The 2006 general election for the National Council in Austria was held on 1 October 2006.Following the Austrian legislative election, 1999, the Austrian People's Party had formed a coalition government with the Austrian Freedom Party , and later the Alliance for the Future of Austria .As a result...
). However, after the election Schüssel mentioned that a coalition with Haider's party or the Freedom Party wouldn't be reasonable.
Following the death of Liese Prokop
Liese Prokop
Liesel Prokop-Sykora was an Austrian athlete who competed mainly in the pentathlon and, later in her life, an Austrian politician....
on 31 December 2006, Schüssel was sworn in as interior minister on 2 January 2007, and served in this additional post until a new government was formed, which occurred on 11 January.
Chairman of the ÖVP Parliamentary Group
Following the 2006 electionAustrian legislative election, 2006
The 2006 general election for the National Council in Austria was held on 1 October 2006.Following the Austrian legislative election, 1999, the Austrian People's Party had formed a coalition government with the Austrian Freedom Party , and later the Alliance for the Future of Austria .As a result...
, Schüssel became Chairman of the ÖVP Parliamentary Group. He announced after the September 2008 election
Austrian legislative election, 2008
A legislative snap election for the National Council in Austria was held on 28 September 2008. The previous election was held on 1 October 2006. The election was caused by the withdrawal of Austrian People's Party leader Wilhelm Molterer from the governing grand coalition on 7 July 2008...
that he would continue to sit in parliament only as a backbencher; Josef Pröll
Josef Pröll
Josef Pröll is a former Austrian politician and was the chairman of the Austrian People's Party from 2008 until 2011. He served as Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance....
was to replace him as Chairman of the ÖVP Parliamentary Group. In 2011, Schüssel retired from parliament due to massive charges of corruption against members of the governments led by him.
Policies
The government's attempts at achieving a balanced budgetBudget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
(called "Nulldefizit")– while being more successful than similar attempts in some other European countries– have failed. Some of the effect was reached by raising taxes and fees, but quite significant cost-cutting measures were undertaken, many of which caused significant criticism. For example, the Austrian education system has suffered considerably, as is shown by the PISA
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
study released in 2004. Costs are being cut at universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, even though the government proclaims that it will bring teaching and research to a "world-class" level. Cost-cutting in the security sector is blamed for an increase in crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
.
At the same time, Schüssel's government increased public spending in certain areas. For example, the new "Kindergeld" (children money) to help families replaced the old "Karenzgeld", which was dependent on the recipient standing in employment. This change was a nod to a Freedom Party, which had campaigned for this measure.
The decision to replace the old Draken fighter planes of the Bundesheer with 18 Eurofighter
Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies: EADS, Alenia Aeronautica and BAE Systems; working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, which was formed in 1986...
s
(originally 24 were ordered, this number was reduced after the 2002 floods) was seen as waste of money by the opposition, most of all because of the attempts to save money in almost every area of the public administration. The government's arguments for this was that the Austrian State Treaty
Austrian State Treaty
The Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955, in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers and the Austrian government...
, according to which Austria needs to be able to defend herself, is to be read to imply that Austria must be in complete control of her air space. The opposition argued that this goal could have been reached in a much cheaper way.
Starting from around 2030, the unfavorable structure of the population pyramid
Population pyramid
A population pyramid, also called an age structure diagram, is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population , which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing...
will create a ratio of active to retired workers of 1:1. Schüssel's pension reform has led to reduction of future pensions and at the same time a raising of the retirement age
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
. Schüssel's reform of the Austrian pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
system is more broad-sweeping and thus more likely to be effective than all previous reforms in this area combined. However, experts insist that it should have been still more ambitious, but despite of this fact the SPÖ and the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (ÖGB) protested heavily and argued that the pension losses, limited by Schüssel to 10% and later reduced to 5%, were excessive.
Recent efforts to reform the military and to create a uniform pension system are proceeding. One result of the military reform is by many hoped to be a reduction of the mandatory military service to six months, or even an abolition of military service. From 2005 onwards, corporate tax
Corporate tax
Many countries impose corporate tax or company tax on the income or capital of some types of legal entities. A similar tax may be imposed at state or lower levels. The taxes may also be referred to as income tax or capital tax. Entities treated as partnerships are generally not taxed at the...
will be reduced to 25%, which is hoped to stimulate investment and economic growth. The measure is thought to be necessary, as neighboring countries which recently entered the EU, such as Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, have even lower tax rates. However, critics sometimes argue that such a tax advantage for firms is unfair to other tax payers (the highest tax bracket for personal income tax is 50%) and may even be unconstitutional.
President of the European Council
Austria succeeded the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in holding the European Council Presidency on 1 January 2006. In the presence of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
, Schüssel promised to lead the European Union "Hand in Hand" with Germany, and Merkel promised that Germany would do everything to "help" Austria during its presidency and make it a success. Schüssel also stated that Austria needed "some friends of the presidency". This led to Brussels diplomats describing the Austrian presidency as "the small German presidency", according to French newspaper Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
.
Honours and awards
- 1996: Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit
- 2001: Grand Cross with Diamonds of the Order of Merit of the Principality of LiechtensteinOrder of Merit of the Principality of LiechtensteinThe Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein is an order of chivalry of the Principality of Liechtenstein that is awarded for services rendered to the principality...
- 2004: Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of RomaniaOrder of the Star of RomaniaThe Order of the Star of Romania is Romania's highest civil order. It is awarded by the President of Romania...
- 2006: Grand Cross of Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
- 2006: Grand Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary
- January 20, 2006: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ("for outstanding achievements in the development of Polish-Austrian cooperation, for their involvement in activities on behalf of those affected by the Third Reich")
- 2007: Medal of Baden-Württemberg
- 2007: Bavarian Order of MeritBavarian Order of MeritThe Bavarian Order of Merit is the order of merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people"....
- Honorary Citizen of TiranaTiranaTirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
, AlbaniaAlbaniaAlbania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
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External links
ÖVP site for Klubobmann Wolfgang Schüssel|-
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