Austrian Economic Association

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Austrian Economic Association
Economic Association of Austria Logo.png
purpose political advocacy for entrepreneurs
Chair: Secretary General Kurt Egger | Deputy General Secretary Carmen Jeitler-Cincelli
Establishment date: May 8, 1945
Number of members: around 100,000
Seat : Mozartgasse 4, 1040 Vienna
Website: www.wirtschaftsbund.at

The Austrian Economic Association ( ÖWB ) is one of the six sub-organizations of the Austrian People's Party and sees itself as the largest political interest group for entrepreneurs and people who think independently in Austria. In turn, it consists of nine national organizations. Wirtschaftsbund functionaries are active at federal, state and local levels in addition to representing interests in statutory bodies such as chambers of commerce and social insurance.

In the Austrian Chamber of Commerce , the Economic Association, Harald Mahrer, provides the President of the Chamber of Commerce and all nine state presidents. In the 2020 Chamber of Commerce election, the Wirtschaftsbund came out with 69.6%.

According to the statute, both entrepreneurs and employees with “entrepreneurial thinking” can become members. Its members are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises (so-called SMEs ). The economic association has around 100,000 members across Austria. While regular members of the Wirtschaftsbund are also ÖVP members, extraordinary memberships are limited to membership in the Wirtschaftsbund.

The foundation took place on May 8, 1945, the first chairman was Julius Raab .

The current president is Harald Mahrer . Kurt Egger and Carmen Jeitler-Cincelli (deputy) act as general secretaries. Rudolf Sallinger , Leopold Maderthaner and Christoph Leitl should be mentioned as previous long-term chairmen .

The association is a member of SME Europe , the representation of business and medium-sized companies within the European People's Party (EPP).

Due to the chamber elections, the Economic Association claims the majority of the representatives in the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and its presidents.

The Julius Raab Medal is awarded by the Wirtschaftsbund.

history

Already in the 1930s, in view of the “terrible and disorganized organization of the business community”, the member of parliament, Ing. Julius Raab, who was elected to the National Council in 1927, sought to strengthen the professional representation of businesspeople through greater common ground in a political and a legal organization. Between 1930 and 1932 he initiated the transformation of the originally apolitical trade union into a political organization that professed its Christian-Social Party . With the Chamber Act passed on June 24, 1937, the establishment of the Federal Chamber of Commerce also created legal representation for entrepreneurs. This also laid the foundation for the social partnership that has ensured Austria's social peace and prosperity over the decades.

After the founding of the Austrian People's Party on April 17, 1945, Julius Raab founded the Austrian Economic Association on May 8, 1945.

At the end of 1946, the ÖWB already had more than 100,000 members in over 1,000 local groups and 300 district groups.

In 1953 Julius Raab became the second Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria - he held this office until 1961 - and went down in history as the “State Treaty Chancellor”.

With the “Raab-Kamitz course”, which resulted in budget restructuring and shilling stabilization, tax cuts and economic revival, the economic viability of Austria was demonstrated even before the State Treaty was signed.

The "Koren Plan" implemented in the 1960s led to above-average economic growth in 1968, 1969 and 1970, which was due in particular to the strong increase in exports.

The ÖWB also recognized very early on that for an economically successful Austria it was necessary to overcome the narrowness of the Austrian market. That is why the efforts of numerous high-ranking ÖWB functionaries always pursued full membership of the EEC, today's European Union . It is also thanks to the efforts of the then Minister of Economic Affairs, Wolfgang Schüssel, that the negotiations on EU membership in 1994 found a positive outcome for Austria.

In 2000, Wolfgang Schüssel - who was WB General Secretary from 1975 to 1989 - became Federal Chancellor and initiated reforms that had an impact far beyond his term in office.

The WB General Secretary from 1992 to 2000, Reinhold Mitterlehner , became Minister of Economics in 2008 and Vice Chancellor in 2014.

Since 1945, in every federal government - with the exception of the Kreisky, Sinowatz and Vranitzky I governments - economic groups have held ministerial or state secretary positions.

The WB has appointed every president in the economic chambers since 1945 and always achieved an absolute or two-thirds majority in every economic chamber election in every federal state and at the federal level.

Economic Association President

1945 to 1966 Julius Raab
1966 to 1989 Rudolf Sallinger
1989 to 1999 Leopold Maderthaner
1999 to 2017 Christoph Leitl
since 2017 Harald Mahrer

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c What we do. In : wirtschaftsbund.at. Austrian Economic Association (federal management), accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  2. ^ Head of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. In: wko.at. Austrian Chamber of Commerce, accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c Wirtschaftsbund team. In : wirtschaftsbund.at. Austrian Economic Association (federal management), accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  4. ↑ WK election 2015: two-thirds majority for Wirtschaftsbund - results. In: Trend . February 27, 2015, accessed April 15, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Mission statement. In : wirtschaftsbund.at. Austrian Economic Association (federal management), accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  6. ↑ The Austrian Economic Association. In : wirtschaftsbund.at. Austrian Economic Association (federal management), accessed on April 15, 2019 .
  7. ^ Rübig: European Economic Association newly founded. In: OTS- APA press release by Paul Rübig , MEP . Sent on October 17, 2012, accessed on June 10, 2019.
  8. ^ Karl Pisa: Ideas, deeds, future goals: 50 years of the Wirtschaftsbund . Ed .: Austrian Economic Association. 1995, ISBN 3-900631-02-6 , pp. 13 .
  9. ^ Karl Pisa: Ideas, deeds, future goals: 50 years of the Wirtschaftsbund . Ed .: Austrian Economic Association. 1995, ISBN 3-900631-02-6 , pp. 15 .
  10. ^ Karl Pisa: Ideas, deeds, future goals: 50 years of the Wirtschaftsbund . Ed .: Austrian Economic Association. 1995, ISBN 3-900631-02-6 , pp. 20 .
  11. ^ Karl Pisa: Ideas, deeds, future goals: 50 years of the Wirtschaftsbund . Ed .: Austrian Economic Association. 1995, ISBN 3-900631-02-6 , pp. 49 .
  12. ^ Karl Pisa: Ideas, deeds, future goals: 50 years of the Wirtschaftsbund . Ed .: Austrian Economic Association. 1995, ISBN 3-900631-02-6 , pp. 80/81 .
  13. ^ Karl Pisa: Ideas, deeds, future goals: 50 years of the Wirtschaftsbund . Ed .: Austrian Economic Association. 1995, ISBN 3-900631-02-6 , pp. 105 .
  14. ^ Karl Pisa: Ideas, deeds, future goals: 50 years of the Wirtschaftsbund . Ed .: Austrian Economic Association. 1995, ISBN 3-900631-02-6 , pp. 117 .