Reinhold Lopatka
Reinhold Lopatka is an Austrian politician of the Austrian People's Party who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since the 2024 European Parliament election in Austria. He led the ÖVP list in the elections.
Early life
After elementary school in Dechantskirchen, Reinhold Lopatka attended the modern language high school in Oberschützen, where he graduated in 1978. In 1982, after studying law and theology at the University of Graz, Lopatka received his doctorate in law. Already active as a school and student representative during his youth and university years, he was finally elected to the Styrian state parliament in 1986.Political career
Member of the Austrian Parliament, 2003–2024
From 1993 to 2001, Lopatka was the Styrian ÖVP regional manager, and from 2000 to 2003 he was the parliamentary group leader of the Styrian ÖVP in the state parliament. For the 2002 legislative election he managed the election campaign for the federal ÖVP; the party made significant gains and once again became the party with the most seats in the National Council. Wolfgang Schüssel, then federal party leader of the ÖVP, brought Lopatka into the federal party and appointed him General Secretary in 2003. In the same year he was elected as a member of the National Council.Lopatka would be re-elected in 2006, 2008, 2013, 2017 and 2019.
In addition to his role in parliament, Lopatka served as a member of the Austrian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2020 to 2024. In the Assembly, he was a member of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, the Sub-Committee on External Relations and the Sub-Committee on the Middle East and the Arab World.
Lopatka also led the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe observer mission for the 2023 Serbian parliamentary election.
Member of the European Parliament, 2024–present
Within the European People’s Party group, Lopatka has been heading the Austrian delegation. Lopatka was part of the European Parliament’s observer mission in the 2024 Georgian parliamentary election.In February 2025, Lopatka would state that "Austrian MEPs should not be the voice of Putin in the European Parliament", referring to the FPÖ.
Committees and Delegations
10th European Parliament
- Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula
- Conference of Delegation Chairs
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Committee on Development
- Subcommittee on Human Rights
- Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America, including the EU-Central America Association Parliamentary Committee
- Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly