Alfred Gusenbauer

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Alfred Gusenbauer
Chancellor of Austria
In office
11 January 2007 – 2 December 2008
PresidentHeinz Fischer
Vice-ChancellorWilhelm Molterer
Preceded byWolfgang Schüssel
Succeeded byWerner Faymann
Chair of the Social Democratic Party
In office
28 April 2000 – 8 August 2008
Preceded byViktor Klima
Succeeded byWerner Faymann
Member of the National Council
In office
30 October 2006 – 15 January 2007
Succeeded byGabriele Binder-Maier
Constituency3C – Mostviertel
In office
29 January 1993 – 29 October 2006
Constituency3 – Lower Austria
Member of the Federal Council
In office
21 February 1991 – 28 January 1993
Constituency3 – Lower Austria
Personal details
Born (1960-02-08) 8 February 1960 (age 64)
Sankt Pölten, Austria
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Alma materUniversity of Vienna

Alfred Gusenbauer (born 8 February 1960) 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.

Early life and education[edit]

Gusenbauer was born in Sankt Pölten in the state of Lower Austria on 8 February 1960.[1] He was educated at a high school in Wieselburg and studied political science, philosophy and jurisprudence at the University of Vienna, where he obtained a doctorate in political science in 1987.[2] Gusenbauer was federal leader of the SPÖ youth wing, the Socialist Youth Austria (SJÖ) from 1984 to 1990; vice-president of the International Union of Socialist Youth from 1985 to 1989 and vice-president of the Socialist International in 1989. He was then made a senior research fellow in the economic policy department of the Lower Austria section of the Chamber of Labour from 1990 to 1999.

Chairman of the Social Democratic Party[edit]

In 1991, Gusenbauer was elected SPÖ chairman in Ybbs an der Donau and a member of the Lower Austria party executive following the resignation of SPÖ chairman Viktor Klima.[1] In the same year he was elected to the Bundesrat (the upper house of the Austrian Parliament) as a deputy for Lower Austria. He was a member of the Austrian delegation to the parliamentary meeting of the Council of Europe in 1991 and was chairman of the social committee of the Council of Europe from 1995 to 1998.

In the Bundesrat, Gusenbauer was chairman of the Committee for Development Co-operation from 1996 to 1999. In 2000, he was elected leader of the SPÖ Group in the Bundesrat and also as secretary-general of the SPÖ. Under his leadership in the 2002 elections the SPÖ improved its vote and gained four seats, but failed to defeat the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) government of Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. Gusenbauer had campaigned on a platform of more social spending and certain tax cuts.[3]

During 2006, the SPÖ was handicapped by its involvement in the "BAWAG scandal" in which directors of the BAWAG, an Austrian bank owned by the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB), were accused of corruption, embezzlement and illicit speculation. The scandal led in March to the resignation of ÖGB head Fritz Verzetnitsch. The SPÖ as a party was not involved in the fraud but Gusenbauer found it politically expedient to exclude ÖGB leaders from the lists of SPÖ candidates, drawing criticism from the ÖGB.[4][5]

Chancellor of Austria[edit]

After the 2006 elections, the SPÖ was the largest single party but had no absolute majority of the parliamentary seats. A grand coalition between the ÖVP and the SPÖ was considered the most likely outcome. After prolonged negotiations, Gusenbauer became chancellor on 11 January 2007 at the head of an SPÖ-ÖVP coalition.

In July 2007, Gusenbauer led the Austrian delegation to the 119th session of the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala City to present the proposal for Salzburg as host of the 2014 Winter Olympics; the proposal eventually lost against Sochi, whose bid was presented by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.[6]

Gusenbauer immediately drew criticism because he abandoned central promises of the SPÖ election campaign, such as those to abolish university tuition fees (it was decided by the SPÖ instead that students should do community service for 60 hours, which resulted in student protests) and to reverse the country's Eurofighter deal. This provoked public criticism even from SPÖ members. Infighting over Gusenbauer's ability to lead his party never subsided from this point onwards. On 16 June 2008, Gusenbauer was replaced as SPÖ chief by his minister of transport Werner Faymann. However, he formally remained chancellor until after the 2008 snap elections that were called in early July 2008 when the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), led by Wilhelm Molterer, left the governing coalition. His time in office was the shortest since World War II.

Post-politics career[edit]

Gusenbauer briefly returned to his old post in the Chamber of Labour but immediately took on paid and unpaid positions in the private and non-profit sectors.

In 2009, Faymann prevented Gusenbauer's candidacy for the office of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy by agreeing to the nomination of Johannes Hahn from his centre-right junior coalition partner ÖVP as Austria's Member of the European Commission.[7][8]

Corporate boards[edit]

Gusenbauer was made a member of the supervisory board of Alpine Holding, an Austrian construction conglomerate, in July 2009[9] and resigned from this position effective 1 May 2010, when it was announced that Gusenbauer was to head the supervisory board of Strabag (Austria's leading construction company) on 18 June 2010. At the same time he was to become chairman of the board of trustees of the private foundation established by Strabag's chairman, Hans Peter Haselsteiner.[10]

In an article about Western leaders working for authoritarian regimes, Associated Press reported that Gusenbauer works as a consultant to Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.[11] In September 2013, he became an advisor to Serbian deputy prime minister and leader of the Serbian Progressive Party Aleksandar Vucic.[12] In 2018, reports surfaced claiming that Gusenbauer had met with members of Congress in Washington as part of a 2013 lobbying campaign orchestrated by Paul Manafort on behalf of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.[13]

Other positions include:

Non-profit organizations[edit]

From 2009 to 2011, Gusenbauer was the first Leitner Global Fellow at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in New York.

Other positions include:

  • Austrian Society for China Studies (ÖGCF), president of the board of trustees[22]
  • Austrian-Spanish Chamber of Commerce, president
  • Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre praktischer Politik (BAPP), member of the board of trustees[23]
  • Club de Madrid, Member[24]
  • Dr. Karl Renner Institute, president
  • Verein für Geschichte der ArbeiterInnenbewegung, member of the board of trustees[25]

Controversy[edit]

In 1984, Gusenbauer, then leader of Austria's Young Socialists, caused controversy in Austria when he knelt and kissed the still-Communist tarmac at Moscow's Domodedovo airport – in mockery of Pope John Paul II.[26]

Paradise Papers[edit]

See also: Paradise Papers

In November 2017, an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists cited his name in the list of people and organisations named in the Paradise Papers.[27]

Manafort indictment[edit]

The 16 February 2018 indictment of Paul Manafort unsealed on 23 February,[28] as part of the Mueller special counsel investigation, alleges that foreign politicians hypothesized to be Gusenbauer and Romano Prodi took payments exceeding $2 million from Manafort to promote the case of his client, then-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich; both denied this and said their work was focused to get closer European Union–Ukraine relations.[29][30]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Who's who in the Gusenbauer cabinet". Wikileaks. 23 January 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  2. ^ profil 28 (13 July 1987), p. 62
  3. ^ Paul Zielbauer (25 November 2002), Austrians Re-elect Chancellor; Far-Right Party Is Set Back The New York Times.
  4. ^ European Election Monitor commentary Archived 10 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine Robert Schuman
  5. ^ Next prime minister aims to preserve Austria's economy – Europe – International Herald Tribune The New York Times, 2 October 2006.
  6. ^ Race to Hold 2014 Games Heats Up as Decision Nears The New York Times, 1 July 2007.
  7. ^ Toby Vogel (19 November 2009), Socialists united in choice of Ashton European Voice.
  8. ^ Busek: Spanien tritt "sehr massiv" für Gusenbauer ein Der Standard, 8 November 2009.
  9. ^ Former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer joins ALPINE Board Archived 7 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine FCC press release 29 July 2009 Archived Archived 16 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Gusenbauer to head Strabag supervisory board Austrian Times 30 April 2010 Archived
  11. ^ "Focus on ex-Western leaders working for despots". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 4 March 2011.
  12. ^ Former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer to advise Serbian government Archived 16 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Intelli News 8 September 2013 Retrieved 16 October 2013
  13. ^ Theodoric Meyer and Josh Gerstein (24 February 2018), Former Austrian chancellor appears to have lobbied as part of Manafort scheme Politico Europe.
  14. ^ Team CUDOS Capital AG, Vienna.
  15. ^ Jonathan Tirone (5 November 2011), Billionaire Graf Seeks Gamblers Abroad as Rules Pinch Bloomberg News.
  16. ^ Directors Gabriel Resources.
  17. ^ Resolutions proposed by the Supervisory Board for the 34th Annual General Meeting, 3 May 2013 RHI AG.
  18. ^ Company Register extract 20091010 ad #251831s.
  19. ^ Andrea Hodoschek (7 November 2018). "Faymann und Sigmar Gabriel starten gemeinsame Firma". kurier.at (in German). Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  20. ^ Schütze, Arno (19 December 2023). "Signa-Funktionär Gusenbauer tritt als Strabag-Aufsichtsratschef zurück". www.handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  21. ^ ORF (22 February 2024). "Signa: Gusenbauer verlässt Aufsichtsräte". news.ORF.at (in German). Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  22. ^ Board of Trustees Austrian Society for China Studies (ÖGCF).
  23. ^ Board of Trustees Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre praktischer Politik (BAPP).
  24. ^ Gusenbauer, Alfred Club de Madrid
  25. ^ Board of Trustees Verein für Geschichte der ArbeiterInnenbewegung, Vienna.
  26. ^ Edward Steen (10 October 2007), Austrian successor European Voice.
  27. ^ "Explore The Politicians in the Paradise Papers". ICIJ. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  28. ^ "Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Indicted Yet Again". HuffPost. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  29. ^ Erlanger, Steven; Horowitz, Jason (24 February 2018). "European Ex-Officials Deny Being Paid by Manafort to Lobby for Ukraine". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 July 2023. On Saturday, Romano Prodi, a former prime minister of Italy, said in an interview that he and an ex-chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer, had worked to try to bring Ukraine and the European Union closer together. But Mr. Prodi said the funds he had been paid by Mr. Gusenbauer did not come, to his knowledge, from Mr. Manafort. The compensation from Mr. Gusenbauer was a result of the 'normal private relations I had with him,' Mr. Prodi said, but 'not any money from external sources.' He added: 'I tell you I have never been paid from any lobby group in America.' In a statement to the BBC, Mr. Gusenbauer, who led Austria from January 2007 to December 2008, denied any involvement in Mr. Manafort's work in Ukraine but acknowledged that he had met him twice and talked to European and American politicians about Ukraine, as Mr. Prodi had also done. ... Mr. Prodi said that Mr. Gusenbauer was the 'coordinator' of a group of like-minded liberal and center-left politicians on the issue. ... Mr. Prodi recalled meeting members of Congress interested in Ukraine, but said he had not heard of Mercury. Asked who scheduled the meetings in Washington, Mr. Prodi said, 'I imagine it was Gusenbauer.' ... Asked if the money Mr. Gusenbauer received came from Mr. Manafort, Mr. Prodi seemed skeptical but said that he didn't know. 'Go ask Gusenbauer,' he said, adding that he thought that it was more likely that the money came from European businessmen interested in keeping Europe and Ukraine close.
  30. ^ Meyer, Theodoric; Gerstein, Josh (23 February 2018). "Former Austrian chancellor appears to have lobbied as part of Manafort scheme". Politico. Retrieved 5 October 2021. Kutler also accompanied Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister, to meetings with Royce and a staffer for House Majority Whip Eric Cantor months beforehand. Gusenbauer and Prodi said their work was focused on bringing Ukraine and the European Union closer together and denied being paid by Yanukovych or Manafort. ... Prodi told The New York Times on Saturday that he'd been paid by Gusenbauer as part of the 'normal private relations I had with him' and they the money had not, to his knowledge, come from Manafort. He said he'd never heard of the Hapsburg Group. 'It was Gusenbauer heading the group; we did all our efforts to have peace in Ukraine,' Prodi said. The group, which consisted of 'experts and former politicians,' broke up when it became clear that 'a stronger relationship with the European Union was impossible,' he added.

External links[edit]

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Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Social Democratic Party
2000–2008 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Chancellor of Austria
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
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