Susanne Raab

Susanne Raab in Vöcklabruck is an Austrian civil servant, jurist and politician of the Austrian People's Party, who served as Federal Minister from 2020 to 2025. Prior to her political career, Susanne Raab held several key leadership positions in the Austrian civil service. First as Legal Advisor for Asylum and Migration Affairs in the Ministry of the Interior, then as Head of the Department for Integration Coordination and eventually as Director General for Integration in the Austrian Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2020.
On 7 January 2025, Raab announced her withdrawal from federal politics and her position as minister in order to apply for the post of Director General of ICMPD. Since the swearing-in of the new federal government on 3 March 2025, she has no longer been a member of the government, but remained a member of the National Council until 22 September 2025. On 5 June 2025, she was elected and designated in Stockholm as the new Director General of ICMPD by its member states.

Education and early career

Susanne Raab studied psychology and law at the University of Innsbruck, earning a master’s degree in both fields. In November 2010, she received her doctorate in law from the University of Innsbruck with a doctoral thesis on compensation claims under Austrian antitrust law.
During her school and university years, Susanne Raab spent time abroad, including a period working at a women’s shelter in Brazil. She also held various leadership roles in volunteer organizations, such as the Schülerunion and the European Law Students’ Association.
During her doctoral studies, Susanne Raab worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute for Civil Law at the University of Innsbruck, focusing on European private law, and as a Research Associate at the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law in Vienna.
In 2010, she joined the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior as a Senior Consultant and Legal Advisor for Asylum and Migration Affairs. At the same time, she continued to contribute to research for several years as a Research Associate in Asylum and Migration Law at the Institute for Public Law at the University of Salzburg.
Beginning in November 2011, she served as Head of the Integration Coordination Unit at the Federal Ministry of the Interior. In March 2014, the integration portfolio was incorporated into the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, where Susanne Raab became Head of the newly established Department for Integration Coordination. In September 2017, she was appointed Director General for Integration in the Foreign Ministry, becoming Austria’s youngest head of section.

Political Career

Raab served as Federal Minister in the governments of the Chancellors Sebastian Kurz, Alexander Schallenberg and Karl Nehammer
From 2 February 2021 to 4 January 2022 she served as Federal Minister for Women, Family, Youth and Integration in the second government of the Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Between 5 January 2022 and 3 March 2025 Raab served as Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media in the Nehammer government.
During March 2024 Susanne Raab paid an official visit to Washington DC where she met with senior officials from the US Department of State, as well as to the UN in New York.
In June 2025, Raab was elected and designated by its member states to become the new Director General of ICMPD, effective January 1, 2026.