Politics in Austria reflects the dynamics of competition among multiple political parties, which led to the formation of a Conservative-Green coalition government for the first time in January 2020, following the snap elections of 29 September 2019, and the election of a former Green Party leader to the presidency in 2016.
The Austrian People's Party is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria.
Wolfgang Schüssel is an Austrian politician. He was Chancellor of Austria for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognised 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 Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) on both occasions. In 2011, he retired from being an active member of parliament due to a multitude of charges of corruption against members of his governments.
Franz Vranitzky is an Austrian politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), he was Chancellor of Austria from 1986 to 1997.
Alfred Gusenbauer is an Austrian politician who until 2008 spent his entire professional life as an employee of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) or as a parliamentary representative. He headed the SPÖ from 2000 to 2008, and served as Chancellor of Austria from January 2007 to December 2008. Since then, he has pursued a career as a consultant and lecturer, and as a member of supervisory boards of Austrian companies.
Pedro Solbes Mira was a Spanish economist. He was the president of FRIDE, Madrid-based think tank.
Bendt Bendtsen is a Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 until 2019. He was the leader of the Conservative People's Party from 1999 to 2008, and served as Minister of Economic and Business Affairs. As a MEP, he was part of the European People's Party.
The following lists events that happened during 2007 in Austria.
Legislative elections were held in Austria on 28 September 2008 to elect the 24th National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The snap election was called after Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) withdrew from the ruling grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) in July. Due to dissatisfaction with the governing parties, the opposition and minor parties were expected to make significant gains. Opinion polling indicated that up to seven parties could potentially win seats.
Werner Faymann 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.
Rimantas Šadžius is a Lithuanian politician of the Social Democratic Party.
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. Due to dissatisfaction with the grand coalition and the two main parties, it was widely expected to be a realigning election, with gains for the opposition and up to seven parties expected to be in the National Council after the election. The losses for the government parties resulted in strong gains for the far right, while neither the Liberal Forum nor the Citizens' Forum Austria gained as much as 2% of the vote, defying earlier expectations. The result of the election was seen as strong for the far-right and in support of Eurosceptics.
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. Due to dissatisfaction with the grand coalition and the two main parties, it was widely expected to be a realigning election, with gains for the opposition and up to seven parties expected to be in the National Council after the election. The losses for the government parties resulted in strong gains for the far right, while neither the Liberal Forum nor the Citizens' Forum Austria gained as much as 2% of the vote, defying earlier expectations. The result of the election was seen as strong for the far-right and in support of Eurosceptics.
Reinhold Mitterlehner is an Austrian politician of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) who served as minister of economy in Austria's government from 2008 until 2017. In September 2014 he also became vice chancellor of Austria and chairman of the ÖVP. On 9 May 2016 he briefly assumed powers and duties as Acting Chancellor of Austria while his coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, underwent a change in leadership. After a series of quarrels within the grand coalition as well as his own party, Mitterlehner announced his resignation on 10 May 2017, which became effective on 17 May 2017.
Magnus Brunner is an Austrian politician of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) who is set to serve as European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration starting in December 2024. Previously, he served as Austria's finance minister from 2021 until 2024 in the government of Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
Pier Carlo Padoan is an Italian economist who served as Minister of Economy and Finance of Italy from 2014 to 2018.
Hans Jörg Schelling is an Austrian entrepreneur and politician of the Austrian People's Party and who served as Minister of Finance of Austria in the governments of chancellors Werner Faymann and Christian Kern.
Gernot Blümel is an Austrian politician of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). He served as Austria's finance minister from 2020 to 2021, having announced his resignation shortly after Alexander Schallenberg's resignation on 2 December 2021. Since 2015, he has been the chairman of the Vienna branch of the ÖVP. Prior, he was Chancellery minister for European Affairs, Art, Culture, and Media from 2017 to 2019; he was also General Secretary of the ÖVP from 2013 to 2015.
Events from the year 2008 in Austria
Traunviertel, also known as Electoral District 4D, is one of the 39 multi-member regional electoral districts of the National Council, the lower house of the Austrian Parliament, the national legislature of Austria. The electoral district was created in 1992 when electoral regulations were amended to add regional electoral districts to the existing state-wide electoral districts and came into being at the following legislative election in 1994. It consists of the city of Steyr and the districts of Gmunden, Kirchdorf and Steyr Rural in the state of Upper Austria. The electoral district currently elects six of the 183 members of the National Council using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2019 legislative election the constituency had 197,070 registered electors.
