34-567: Werner Faymann ( German: [ˈvɛʁnɐ ˈfaɪman] ; born 4 May 1960) is an Austrian former politician who was Chancellor of Austria and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) from 2008 to 2016. On 9 May 2016, he resigned from both positions amid widening criticism within his party. Werner Faymann was born in Vienna and also attended grammar school there. After graduating from grammar school he enrolled at
68-524: A more aggressive push to combat unemployment in Europe. Measures to halt immigration inflows along the so-called "Balkan route" subsequently strained relations between the two countries. The reversal angered parts of the Social Democrats but failed to stop Norbert Hofer , a right-wing politician, from taking more than 35 per cent of the vote in the first round of the 2016 presidential election, then
102-546: A planned free-trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, and that he may attend, along with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann , EU summits. Right-wing parties and politicians across Western Europe celebrated Hofer's first-place finish. Those parties and politicians included: Marine Le Pen of France's National Front ; Frauke Petry of Alternative for Germany ; Geert Wilders of
136-679: A referendum on its membership of the European Union if the European Parliament were to assume more powers or if Turkey acceded to the bloc . Hofer has also defended the right to gun ownership . Hofer stated that the Quran was more dangerous than COVID-19 during a speech held at a 2020 campaign event. As a result, he was sued for hate-speech . Hofer is in his second marriage and has four children – two daughters, Anna-Sophie and Vivien and two sons, Yanik and Jeremie. He
170-594: A scandal within the party, as no party committee had been involved in deciding the shift. The pro-EU Austrian People's Party ( ÖVP ) cancelled the existing coalition, thus causing new elections. Faymann was known for his good relationship to Dichand, who would also support him in the following election campaign. Although the SPÖ lost 11 seats, and had a 6% swing against it (in fact, their worst result since World War II), they came out ahead of their main rivals Austrian People's Party in regard to seats (57 to 51) as well as to share of
204-560: Is not a nationalist but a patriot, and that the FPÖ is not an extreme-right movement but "a centre-right party with a high degree of social responsibility.” He has also cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as one of his political influences. In February 2015, Hofer proposed that South Tyrol , an autonomous German-speaking province administered by Italy and formerly part of Austria-Hungary , should be absorbed into Austria. In 2016, Hofer stated that he would want Austria to hold
238-549: The Cabinet of Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer . Moreover, Gusenbauer appointed him as coalition co-ordinator. Soon Faymann was seen as the likely successor of Gusenbauer. He never challenged Gusenbauer openly, but the chancellor faced an internal party rebellion in June 2008 and voluntarily relinquished the party leadership. On 16 June 2008 Faymann succeeded Gusenbauer as chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and led
272-608: The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) from June 2019 to June 2021. He previously served as minister of transport, innovation, and technology from 2017 to 2019 under Chancellor Sebastian Kurz . Hofer served as third president of the National Council from 2013 to 2017. He was his party's candidate in the 2016 presidential election . Hofer won the first round, receiving 35.1%, but was defeated by The Greens ' candidate Alexander Van der Bellen , 53.8% against 46.2%, in
306-611: The University of Vienna (jurisprudence, political science, and history of art). Faymann is Roman Catholic . He is in his second marriage and has two children. In 1981, Faymann became provincial chairman of the Socialist Youth Vienna (Sozialistische Jugend Wien). From 1985 to 1988 Faymann was a consultant to the Zentralsparkasse (now part of Bank Austria ). The bank at the time was closely linked to
340-714: The Austrian ambassador. In August 2016, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Faymann as the United Nations ' Special Envoy on Youth Unemployment. In this capacity, he works closely with Ahmad Alhendawi , the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth . In September 2016, Faymann and his former spokesperson Matthias Euler-Rolle founded their own communications consultancy in Vienna. Chancellor of Austria Too Many Requests If you report this error to
374-601: The Dutch Party for Freedom ; and Matteo Salvini of Italy's Lega Nord . The second round election was held on 22 May 2016, with 49.7% of votes cast for Hofer while Van der Bellen, his opponent, received 50.3%, – a margin of victory of only 30,863. Evidence was subsequently presented to the Constitutional Court of Austria that approximately 78,000 absentee ballots were improperly counted too early, which theoretically could have influenced or altered
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#1732790908809408-585: The FPÖ reaches up to 30% at most at a national parliamentary election. The FPÖ performed well in the 2017 Austrian legislative election , and it formed a government coalition with the Austrian People's Party . Hofer was chosen to lead the Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology . Hofer serves on the board of directors of Eurosolar Austria , has served on the boards of Mapjet AG (2010–2011) and International Sky Services AG (2011–2012) and
442-470: The People's Party, were both historically eliminated in the first round of the presidential elections held on 24 April 2016, resulting in a run-off between Norbert Hofer of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria and Alexander Van der Bellen , an independent endorsed by The Greens . Hofer announced that as president he could dissolve the National Council in order to hold elections, which would at
476-494: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 974369254 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:48:29 GMT Norbert Hofer Norbert Gerwald Hofer ( Austrian German: [ˈnɔrbɛrt ˈhoːfɐ] ; born 2 March 1971) is an Austrian politician who was the leader of
510-429: The breach of trust case, which the opposition Freedom Party (FPÖ) had asked prosecutors to investigate. By November 2013, Austrian authorities dropped their investigation. On 9 May 2016, Faymann resigned as chancellor and party leader, after losing confidence from a considerable number of party members, despite retaining confidence from a majority of them. His party's candidate and the candidate from its coalition partner,
544-584: The final runoff (an earlier runoff was invalidated). He later served as Minister for Transport in the first Kurz government from 2017 to 2019. He became Leader of the Freedom Party in September 2019, after holding the office in an acting capacity from May to September 2019. He stepped down as party leader in 2021 after losing a power struggle with Herbert Kickl . Hofer was born in Vorau , Austria,
578-445: The first round of the election, held on 24 April. He placed close second in a neck-and-neck race with Alexander Van der Bellen , the former Green Party spokesman. He ran on his promise of "putting Austria first" and received the highest number of votes in the first round with 35.1 percent, putting him in a runoff. 24 April vote total was the best-ever result for the Freedom Party at federal level since 1956. Hofer benefited from
612-515: The highest vote that the party had ever secured in a national poll. In a media interview published amid the European migrant crisis in September 2015, Faymann said Hungary's decision to tell refugees that a train they were boarding was bound for the capital Budapest when in fact it was heading to a refugee camp was reminiscent "of the darkest chapter of our continent's history". In response to this comparison with Nazi deportations , Hungary summoned
646-526: The municipal government dominated by the Social Democrats. He left the bank to become director and provincial chairman of the Viennese Tenants' counselling. Subsequently, Faymann became a member of the Viennese state parliament and municipal council, where he held various positions concerning housing construction and urban renewal. Faymann was Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology in
680-509: The outcome. Consequently, on 1 July, the Court annulled the second round results and thereby precluded Van der Bellen being sworn into office, and ordered the election be re-run. Incumbent president Heinz Fischer left office on 8 July, and so the three presidents of the National Council – Doris Bures ( Social Democratic Party of Austria ), Karlheinz Kopf (ÖVP) and Hofer – became joint acting presidents of Austria. The Court-ordered election
714-493: The party in the snap legislative elections , held on 28 September 2008. The election was famously preceded by Faymann and Gusenbauer announcing a shift in the party's position towards the signing of new EU treaties, which they did by writing an open letter to Hans Dichand , the editor of the yellow press medium Kronen Zeitung . At the time, the Kronen Zeitung was the largest newspaper in the country. The letter caused
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#1732790908809748-567: The ranks of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and became a close advisor to Heinz-Christian Strache , who took over the leadership of the Freedom Party from Jörg Haider in 2005. From 1996 to 2007, Hofer was provincial party secretary of the FPÖ in Burgenland and, from 1997 to 2007, council member of the City of Eisenstadt. Since 2006 he has been deputy regional party chairman. From 2008 to 2012, Hofer served as vice president for Burgenland of
782-502: The recent migrant crisis , where around 90,000 migrants applied for asylum in Austria, straining the country's resources and public empathy. The Freedom Party had opposed the government's original "welcoming culture" and during the summer of 2015 began to lead opinion polls. Hofer campaigned to dissolve Parliament in order to call new elections. During the campaign he also stated that he would refuse to approve certain laws, such as
816-423: The remit of a parliamentary investigation into high-level corruption and ensured Faymann was not called to testify. In 2013, public prosecutors were looking into whether Faymann and a top aide, Josef Ostermayer, had swayed the ÖBB state railways and ASFiNAG motorway agency to place advertisements promoting him in newspapers during his tenure as infrastructure minister. Both had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in
850-480: The secretary of the Freedom party, attributed the defeat to "the establishment – which pitched in once again to block, to stonewall and to prevent renewal." Hofer remained as joint acting president until Van der Bellen was sworn into office on 26 January 2017. Political scientist Farid Hafez argued that nevertheless, it was a huge success for the FPÖ and Norbert Hofer to reach 47% of the votes, while normally,
884-562: The son of a local Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) councillor and electric power station director. He was raised in a middle-class family in Pinkafeld , Burgenland . He finished secondary school at the HTBLA Eisenstadt with specialization in aeronautics . From 1990 until 1991, Hofer fulfilled his military service. From 1991 until 1994 he worked as an aeronautical engineer at Lauda Air Engineering. Hofer worked his way up
918-457: The thousands of refugees fleeing wars in countries such as Syria and seeking asylum in Europe. Austria took in around 90,000 asylum-seekers in 2015, then more than 1 percent of its population. However, support for his policies fell, and the country's institutions struggled to cope with hundreds of thousands of arrivals in Austria, and he later criticized what he called Merkel's "wait-and-see" approach to tackling Europe's economic problems and demanded
952-488: The time probably have led to a win of the populists and thereby forced Faymann to resign. During his tenure, Faymann is said to have moved his once solidly pro-European party toward a more eurosceptic course, but he kept his distance from the far-right parties. In domestic affairs, Faymann's administration was notable in enacting a wide range of reforms in areas such as education and social security. Initially, Faymann sided with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in supporting
986-600: The vote (29.26% to 25.98%). Afterwards, Faymann renewed the coalition with the Austrian People's Party, as he had announced before the election. As head of the largest party in the National Council of Austria , Faymann was asked by Federal President Heinz Fischer on 8 October 2008 to form a new government. A coalition between the SPÖ and the ÖVP was agreed upon on 23 November 2008 and was sworn in on 2 December 2008. In 2012, Austria's government curbed
1020-461: The Österreichischer Zivilinvalidenverband. He was energy and environmental speaker from 2006 to 2015, as well as FPÖ spokesman for the disabled in the National Council. Hofer became Third President of Austria's National Council on 29 October 2013. He succeeded Martin Graf in this function. On 28 January 2016, the FPÖ presented him as its candidate for the 2016 presidential elections . He won
1054-501: Was executive chairman of PAF private trust (2011–2012). Most mainstream press sources describe Hofer as "far-right". Writer Michael Toner of the centrist online news publication International Business Times referred to Hofer as a neo-fascist . However, other media outlets and political commentators have referred to Hofer as the face of the more moderate wing of the FPÖ and less hard-line compared to former party leader Heinz-Christian Strache . Hofer himself has stated that he
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1088-457: Was held on 4 December 2016, with Van der Bellen again emerging as the victor. Despite predictions that election fatigue and cold temperatures would lead to a reduction in participation, voter turnout actually increased from 72.7% in May to 73.8%; expectations for a similarly close result also proved wrong, with the margin of victory for Van der Bellen increasing by approximately a factor of ten as he
1122-599: Was raised as a Catholic but converted to Protestantism; his wife and children are Catholic. His main residence is in southern Burgenland . Hofer is an honorary member of the conservative school fraternity ( pennal-conservative Burschenschaft ) Marko-Germania zu Pinkafeld and an honorary knight of the Order of St. George . In August 2003 Hofer crashed a paraglider in Stubenberg and received severe spinal injuries. He engaged in six months of rehabilitation, moving from
1156-406: Was supported by around 53.3% of voters. Hofer conceded soon after the first exit polls were reported, posting on Facebook : "I congratulate Alexander Van der Bellen for his success and ask all Austrians to pull together and work together" and added that he "would have liked to look after Austria" and confirmed his intention to run again in 2022 . His campaign manager, Herbert Kickl , who is also
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