Sebastian Kurz
Sebastian Kurz is an Austrian former politician who served twice as Chancellor of Austria, first from 2017 to 2019 and then again from 2020 to 2021.
Kurz was born and raised in Meidling, Vienna. He entered politics by joining the Young People's Party in 2003 and rose through the ranks there over the following years. As a result of a cabinet reshuffle in 2011, Kurz received his first government mandate as state secretary responsible for socially integrating refugees. After the 2013 legislative election, Kurz became the country's foreign minister and remained its top diplomat until December 2017.
In May 2017, Kurz succeeded ÖVP chairman Reinhold Mitterlehner and ran as chancellor candidate of his party in the 2017 legislative election. He campaigned on modernizing the Austrian political and bureaucratic apparatus as well as handling the social and immigration issues the country was facing after the European refugee crisis. His perceived reformist approach, rhetorical skills and youth were cited as the prime reasons for his landslide victory. Kurz was subsequently charged with forming his first cabinet. He opted for a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party of Austria. During his first chancellorship, Kurz was credited with mostly following through on his campaign pledges, but his leadership style was widely criticised as uncooperative and hasty. Several political scandals, culminating with the Ibiza affair in 2019, ended the ÖVP–FPÖ coalition. As a result of him no longer commanding the support of Parliament, Kurz and his cabinet were ousted.
Following the 2019 snap election, he returned to power and formed a coalition with the environmentalist Green Party this time. Kurz and his second cabinet were inaugurated in January 2020. Their agenda, however, was swiftly put in limbo by the surging COVID-19 pandemic. His response to the pandemic included lockdowns and curfews. An investigation into the Ibiza affair by a parliamentary subcommittee, an unstable Cabinet plagued by resignations, and ultimately a corruption inquiry, forced Kurz to resign the chancellorship in October 2021. However, remaining party chair and parliamentary leader allowed him to retain control over government affairs, and thus he came to be known as "shadow chancellor". Two months later, Kurz quit politics entirely and started working as a global strategist for Peter Thiel.
Kurz was the youngest chancellor in Austrian history as well as the youngest head of government in the world for about four years. His youth and political tenor were credited with revitalizing the traditional conservative movement in Austria and in Europe.
Personal life
Kurz was born on 27 August 1986 in Vienna, the only child of Elisabeth and Josef Kurz. His father is an engineer and his mother is a grammar school teacher. Kurz's maternal grandmother Magdalena Müller, born 1928 in Temerin, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, is a Danube Swabian who fled from the city and settled in Zogelsdorf during World War II, after the Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army started to regain the territory that was then occupied by the Kingdom of Hungary. Kurz was brought up in Meidling, the 12th district of Vienna, where he still lives. He obtained his Matura certificate from GRG 12 Erlgasse in 2004, completed compulsory military service in 2005, and began studying law at the University of Vienna the same year. Later, he dropped out of university and focused on his political career. Kurz is in a relationship with economics teacher Susanne Thier; they have two sons Konstantin and Valentin together.Early career
Youth branch
Kurz had been a member of the Young People's Party since 2003 and was 'sponsored' by Markus Figl. From 2008 to 2012, he was chairman of Young People's Party of Vienna. As chairman, he led the youth arm of the electoral campaign of the Austrian People's Party into the 2010 Viennese state election and coined the electoral campaign's controversial slogan "black makes horny", a play on the official party color as well as the colloquial term "geil" which literally translates to "horny". Kurz used a black painted SUV termed the "Geilomobil" for official campaign trips in Vienna. Kurz was elected chairman of the Austrian JVP at a federal party convention in 2009, where he received 99 percent of the vote; five years later he was reelected with 100 percent. In 2017, attorney Stefan Schnöll succeeded Kurz as chairman. From 2009 to 2016, Kurz served as a deputy co-chair of the Viennese People's Party. From 2010 to 2011, he was a member of the Viennese State and Municipality Diet, where he focused on "generational equality and fair pensions", before being nominated as state secretary of the Interior Ministry for integration in June 2011, ensuing a reshuffle of the first Faymann cabinet. Following the 2013 Austrian legislative election, in which he won the most direct votes of any candidate, he briefly served as a member of the Parliament. In December 2013, Kurz resigned his parliamentary seat to become the country's youngest foreign minister at age 27.State Secretary
Kurz opined that a healthy and open relation between the government and religious communities was pivotal for social integration. During his first months as state secretary for integration, Kurz suggested several policy changes, including a second obligatory preschool year for students with poor language skills. In 2011, the Foreign Ministry, the Austrian Integration Fund and the Education Ministry launched the joint venture Zusammen:Österreich, which aimed at familiarizing immigrants with Austrian culture and traditions, and sought to convey Western tenets, such as religious freedom and democracy. Zusammen:Österreich deployed so-called "integration ambassadors" to public schools, which were responsible for furthering immigrant children's "identification with Austria" through dialog.During his term as state secretary, Kurz received an annual budget totaling €15 million as of 2011. The budget was raised to €100 million by 2017. The surge was primarily the result of a large-scale expansion of German language classes by the government.
Foreign minister
Following the 2013 legislative election, Kurz replaced Michael Spindelegger as head of the Foreign Ministry. In March 2014, the Foreign Ministry also became responsible for integration-related issues. Kurz declared the improvement of Austria's relation with the Western Balkans one of his top policy priorities. "For historical reasons" a committed relation with Israel and the Jewish community were also 'imperative' to Kurz.During a visit to Belgrade in February 2014, he reaffirmed – in part because of national economic and political interests – Austria's continued support for the accession of Serbia to the European Union.
In November 2014, Kurz launched the "#stolzdrauf" campaign, which sought to encourage people in displaying patriotism on social media. Among the supporters of the campaign were celebrities, such as the former Miss Austria Amina Dagi and musician Andreas Gabalier, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Former president Heinz Fischer, Austrian Airlines, the Jewish Community and the Islamic Religious Community were also involved in some form. The campaign was officially launched at a press conference which was later jeopardized by the alt-right identitarian movement. The amount of money invested by the Foreign Ministry on the campaign's promotion were heavily criticized; expenditures totaled €326,029 in only five to six weeks, 55% of which were spent on boulevard and free newspaper advertisements.
On 25 February 2015, Parliament passed an amendment to the Islam law. The changes bar foreign funding of Islamic religious associations, and were strongly criticised by the Muslim community. It also granted Muslims the right to pastoral care in the military, prisons, hospitals and nursing homes. A German translation of the Qur'an, which had been sought by Kurz, was not included.
In June 2015, Kurz proposed to readjust child benefits received by foreign EU citizens – who work in Austria but whose children remained in their home country – so that it would match the price level of their country. In addition, European foreigners should "pay their fair share for a few years" before being eligible to enroll in Austrian social insurance programs. The Social Democratic Party opposed this suggestion but agreed that the exploitation of child benefit programs needed to end. The Freedom Party welcomed the proposal. The Green party accused Kurz of "adopting the FPÖ's hate mentality".
At the end of June 2015, Kurz introduced a long-term policy plan to shut down embassies in Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia by autumn 2018 and simultaneously open new ones in Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Qatar, and Singapore. His plans also included a second Consulate General in China.
In January 2016, in an interview with the daily newspaper Die Welt, Kurz stated "it is understandable that many politicians are afraid of 'ugly pictures' when it comes to border security. However, we cannot simply cede the responsibilities we have regarding our borders to Turkey, because we don't want to get our hands dirty. 'Ugly pictures' are unavoidable". The Green MEP Michel Reimon quoted the latter part in the caption of a photo showing the deceased refugee boy Aylan Kurdi, which went viral on Facebook. Reimon also referred to Kurz as an "inhumane cynic". An ÖVP spokesperson commented: "it is despicable that the Green party exploits the death of this little boy to promote their ideological stances", Aylan had died at a time "where border security did not exist yet".
The Foreign Ministry's Recognition & Evaluation Act was passed by Parliament in July 2016. It allows for the recognition of qualifications acquired abroad as well as the conversion of foreign academic certificates into domestic ones.
During commemorations and military parades to mark the end of World War II, Kurz visited Belarus on 5 May 2015, followed by a visit to Moscow where he met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He described the annexation of Crimea and Russia's support of Eastern Ukrainian separatists as "contrary to international law". Kurz explained that a softening of EU sanctions would be declined without prior local improvements of the situation and that the implementation of the Minsk II agreement by Russia was imperative. He added that peace could only be achieved "with and not against Russia". In June 2016, he voiced his support for a proposal made by then-German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to gradually withdraw sanctions in return for promises kept by Russia regarding the Minsk agreement.
In May 2016, Kurz visited Israel and met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The trip marked 60 years of diplomatic relations between Austria and Israel. Netanyahu and Kurz signed a working holiday visa agreement as well as several arrangements on bilateral educational and cultural issues.
In November 2016, Kurz expressed his gratitude as a representative of the European People's Party in a campaign rally of the Macedonian sister party VMRO-DPMNE for supporting the closure of the Western Balkans route, which was later criticized as an indirect election endorsement.
In March 2017, Kurz referred to rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea as "NGO insanity", as these would "lead to more refugees dying instead of fewer". Intrigued by the Australian refugee model, Kurz repeatedly demanded that refugees rescued in the Mediterranean Sea should no longer be taken to mainland Italy, but transferred to refugee camps outside of Europe. EU border patrol agency Frontex supported his proposal, while most NGOs opposed it.
In March 2017, the Council of Ministers approved the Integration Act, which was enacted by Parliament two month later. It introduced German language classes for immigrants as well as mandatory "language and value" courses for refugees, and prohibits the distribution of the Quran by Salafists in public areas. It also banned full face veils in public spaces.
In May 2017, an integration ambassador criticized Kurz's immigration policy. According to a survey conducted by magazine Bum Media, two-thirds of the integration ambassadors disagreed with his policy objectives, especially the ban on full face veils.
Under Kurz's term, the cabinet agreed to up funds made available for bilateral relation building from €75 to roughly €150 million by 2021.
At the end of 2016, the Foreign Ministry announced that it had discontinued governmental endowment of Südwind Magazin, which had been published monthly since 1979, for the association Südwind Entwicklungspolitik. This was widely condemned, as it put the magazine in grave financial peril and reportedly undermined freedom of the press in Austria. The publisher of the magazine considered the move "politically idiotic".
File:Mauerbach2017.jpg|thumb|Kurz with Sergey Lavrov at the OSCE summit in Mauerbach
As foreign minister, Kurz assumed the yearly-rotating chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in January 2017.
On 18 December 2017, Kurz stepped down as foreign minister to become chancellor. He was succeeded by Karin Kneissl of the FPÖ.