Alfred Gusenbauer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alfred Gusenbauer
Gusenbauer in 2008
Chancellor of Austria
In office 11 January 2007 – 2 December 2008
President	Heinz Fischer
Vice-Chancellor	Wilhelm Molterer
Preceded by	Wolfgang Schüssel
Succeeded by	Werner Faymann
Chair of the Social Democratic Party
In office 28 April 2000 – 8 August 2008
Preceded by	Viktor Klima
Succeeded by	Werner Faymann
Member of the National Council
In office 30 October 2006 – 15 January 2007
Succeeded by	Gabriele Binder-Maier
Constituency	3C – Mostviertel
In office 29 January 1993 – 29 October 2006
Constituency	3 – Lower Austria
Member of the Federal Council
In office 21 February 1991 – 28 January 1993
Constituency	3 – Lower Austria
Personal details
Born	(1960-02-08) 8 February 1960 (age 65) Sankt Pölten, Austria
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Alma mater	University of Vienna

Alfred Gusenbauer, born on February 8, 1960, is an important Austrian politician. He worked for the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) for many years. He was the leader of the SPÖ from 2000 to 2008. From January 2007 to December 2008, he served as the Chancellor of Austria. After his time as Chancellor, he started working as a consultant and lecturer. He also joined the boards of several Austrian companies.

Early Life and Education

Alfred Gusenbauer was born in Sankt Pölten, a town in Lower Austria, on February 8, 1960. He went to high school in Wieselburg. Later, he studied political science, philosophy, and law at the University of Vienna. He earned his doctorate in political science in 1987.

While studying, Gusenbauer was very active in youth politics. He led the Socialist Youth Austria from 1984 to 1990. He was also a vice-president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) and the Socialist International. After his studies, he worked as a researcher for the Austrian Chamber of Labour from 1990 to 1999.

Leading the Social Democratic Party

In 1991, Alfred Gusenbauer became the SPÖ chairman in Ybbs an der Donau. He also joined the party's executive committee in Lower Austria. In the same year, he was elected to the Bundesrat, which is the upper house of the Austrian Parliament. He represented Lower Austria there.

Gusenbauer was part of Austria's team at the Council of Europe parliamentary meetings. From 1995 to 1998, he led the social committee of the Council of Europe. In the Bundesrat, he chaired the Committee for Development Co-operation from 1996 to 1999.

In 2000, he became the leader of the SPÖ group in the Bundesrat. He also became the secretary-general of the SPÖ. Under his leadership, the SPÖ did better in the 2002 elections. They gained more votes and four extra seats. However, they did not win enough to defeat the government led by Wolfgang Schüssel's Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). Gusenbauer had promised more social spending and some tax cuts during his campaign.

Around 2006, the SPÖ faced challenges due to the "BAWAG scandal." This involved a bank owned by the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB). Some bank directors were accused of serious financial problems. The SPÖ itself was not involved in these issues. However, Gusenbauer decided to remove some ÖGB leaders from the SPÖ candidate lists. This decision caused some disagreement with the ÖGB.

Becoming Chancellor of Austria

After the 2006 elections, the SPÖ was the largest party. However, they did not have enough seats to form a government alone. It seemed most likely that the SPÖ and the ÖVP would form a "grand coalition." This means two major parties work together to govern.

After long talks, Alfred Gusenbauer became Chancellor on January 11, 2007. He led a government made up of both the SPÖ and the ÖVP.

In July 2007, Gusenbauer led Austria's team to the International Olympic Committee meeting in Guatemala City. They presented Salzburg as a possible host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics. However, Sochi in Russia was chosen instead.

Gusenbauer soon faced criticism because he changed some promises from the SPÖ election campaign. For example, he had promised to get rid of university tuition fees. Instead, it was decided that students should do community service. This led to student protests. There was also disagreement about the Eurofighter deal. These issues caused problems within the SPÖ.

On June 16, 2008, Werner Faymann, who was Gusenbauer's transport minister, took over as the new leader of the SPÖ. Gusenbauer officially remained Chancellor until after the 2008 snap elections. These elections were called in July 2008 when the ÖVP left the government. Gusenbauer's time as Chancellor was the shortest since World War II.

Life After Politics

After leaving his role as Chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer briefly returned to his old job at the Chamber of Labour. However, he quickly took on new roles in private companies and non-profit groups.

In 2009, Werner Faymann prevented Gusenbauer from becoming the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Instead, Johannes Hahn from the ÖVP was nominated for a position in the European Commission.

Working with Companies

In July 2009, Gusenbauer joined the supervisory board of Alpine Holding, an Austrian construction company. He left this position in May 2010. It was then announced that he would lead the supervisory board of Strabag, another major Austrian construction company, starting in June 2010. He also became chairman of a private foundation set up by Strabag's chairman, Hans Peter Haselsteiner.

News reports mentioned that Gusenbauer also worked as a consultant for the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. In September 2013, he became an advisor to Aleksandar Vučić, a Serbian deputy prime minister. In 2018, there were reports that Gusenbauer had met with members of the US Congress in 2013. This was part of a campaign for Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Gusenbauer has held other positions, including:

• Member of the European Advisory Board for Citigroup
• Chairman of the supervisory board for CUDOS Capital AG
• Member of the board for Equitas Capital
• Member of the board of directors for Gabriel Resources
• Chairman of the Haselsteiner Familien-Privatstiftung
• Member of the supervisory board for RHI AG (since 2013)
• Chairman of the board for Wartenfels Privatstiftung
• He is also involved with Signa Holding, a real estate company. He joined the Supervisory Board of SIGNA-RECAP Holding AG in 2009. As of 2018, he chairs the Supervisory Boards of Signa Development Selection, Signa Prime Selection, and Signa KidInvest. He began to resign from some of these roles in December 2023.

Non-Profit Work

From 2009 to 2011, Gusenbauer was the first Leitner Global Fellow at Columbia University in New York.

He also holds positions in several non-profit organizations:

• President of the board of trustees for the Austrian Society for China Studies (ÖGCF)
• President of the Austrian-Spanish Chamber of Commerce
• Member of the board of trustees for Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre praktischer Politik (BAPP)
• Member of the Club de Madrid
• President of the Dr. Karl Renner Institute
• Member of the board of trustees for Verein für Geschichte der ArbeiterInnenbewegung

See also

In Spanish: Alfred Gusenbauer para niños

• Gusenbauer cabinet