Christian Kern

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Christian Kern (2016)

Christian Kern (born January 4, 1966 in Vienna ) is an Austrian manager and former politician ( SPÖ ).

From May 2016 to December 2017 he was Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria . From May 2016 to September 2018 he was federal party leader of the SPÖ and from December 2017 also opposition leader in the Austrian National Council . In October 2018 he retired from politics and announced that he would go into the private sector .

His professional career began after graduation (1997) and postgraduate training as well as the first steps as a business journalist, initially as an employee in the Federal Chancellery and the SPÖ parliamentary club . This was followed by employment in various public companies . From 2007 to 2010 he was a board member of Verbund AG , after which he moved to the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and was chairman of the board of ÖBB-Holding AG between 2010 and 2016 .

Life

Christian Kern grew up as the son of a secretary and an electrician on Kaiser-Ebersdorfer Strasse in the Simmering district of Vienna . The parents then also ran a dairy shop in Favoriten . Later the father got a taxi license and drove a taxi. The mother took care of the children. Christian Kern graduated from the Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium Gottschalkgasse 21 in Simmering. He then studied journalism and communication science at the University of Vienna and graduated in 1997 ( Mag. Phil. ). He then completed postgraduate training at Fredmund Malik's management center in St. Gallen .

Professional background

In 1989 he began his career as a business journalist , including in the business press service and at Option - the Austrian business magazine of Wirtschafts-Printmedien GmbH.

In 1991 he became assistant to State Secretary Peter Kostelka in the federal government Vranitzky III in the public service in the Federal Chancellery . In 1994, Kern became office manager and press spokesman for the club chairman of the SPÖ parliamentary club in the National Council . Between 1996 and 2000 he was a member of the ORF board of trustees . Also Verbund AG -Vorstand Hannes Sereinig was a member of the Board of Trustees and was looking for a wizard. Kern offered himself up and so he switched to Verbund in 1997. From 1999 he was head of strategic marketing and sales management. In 2000 he was promoted to managing director of Verbund Stromvertriebsgesellschaft mbH and held this position until December 2002. From October 2002 to May 2007 he was a member of the board of directors of Verbund Trading GmbH and, since 2001, an authorized officer of Verbund AG. He then became a member of the board of directors of Verbund AG in June 2007 and was responsible for the areas of international mergers & acquisitions, investment management and development and the high-voltage network.

Kern at the opening of BahnhofCity Wien West (2011)

From June 7, 2010, Kern was CEO of ÖBB-Holding AG and was responsible for the areas of strategy, communication, personnel and the freight and passenger transport sector. In this position he appointed Niko Pelinka to "the new Public Affairs department". From February 2011 to May 2016 he was also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the subsidiary Rail Cargo Austria (RCA). In 2014, his contract with ÖBB was extended to 2019.

On January 1, 2014, Kern was elected chairman of the Community of European Railways for two years . He was confirmed in this office on September 24, 2015 for a further two years.

After successful negotiations for the office of CEO of RHI AG , Kern switched to politics as Federal Chancellor. When he took office as Federal Chancellor, all of his functions in the railway sector became obsolete, since as Chancellor he was not allowed to exercise any other professional activities or offices.

After his farewell at the SPÖ federal party conference in September 2018, Kern announced that he would join his wife Eveline Steinberger-Kern's Blue Minds group and work as a tech entrepreneur.

politics

Beginnings

Kern at his presentation of the SPÖ basic program "Plan A" in Wels (January 2017)

As a schoolboy he was a class representative and later also a school representative. As a high school student, Kern co-founded the Alternative List Simmering , a district list of the predecessor organizations of the Greens , and was involved in the founding of the Green Alternatives - Democratic List (GAL). A book by Günther Nenning is said to have made him a social democrat. During his studies he was also involved in the Association of Socialist Students in Austria (VSStÖ) and was editor-in-chief of the VSStÖ magazine Rotpress - magazine for universities, politics and culture . In the university elections in 1989 he was the top candidate for the Vienna VSStÖ. He was a training officer , where he also organized Gramsci training courses and was debated about his concept of hegemony .

Party leader and chancellor

After Kern had already been mentioned several times as a possible successor to Werner Faymann as Austrian Federal Chancellor , after his resignation on May 9, 2016, he was again under discussion as a candidate for successor alongside Gerhard Zeiler and Brigitte Ederer . After all state organizations except the Viennese SPÖ had spoken out in favor of him, the federal party executive agreed on May 12, 2016 on Kern as Faymann's successor for the office of Federal Chancellor and in the function of party chairman.

On the morning of May 17, 2016, Kern was confirmed in the responsible federal party committee for the new offices. In the afternoon he was sworn in as Federal Chancellor by Federal President Heinz Fischer . With the government reshuffle on May 18, in which the social democratic part of the federal government was significantly rebuilt, the federal government Faymann II passed into the federal government Kern .

At the extraordinary party congress of the SPÖ on June 25, 2016, Kern was elected party chairman with around 96.8 percent of the delegate's votes, replacing the executive party leader Michael Häupl . Kern outlined a number of measures that should lead to full employment by 2020 and which he called the New Deal based on the program of former US President Roosevelt as a focus for his intended government work .

On September 3, 2016 criticized core, given by the EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager outspoken billionaire complaints tax claim on the company Apple in an interview with the " standard " the fact that in Austria "Every Viennese coffee, each Würstelstand [...] more taxes than a global corporation "pay. With regard to tax havens in the EU, he said: "What Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg or Malta are doing here shows lack of solidarity with the rest of the European economy."

In September 2016, Christian Kern had SPÖ members vote online for the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada, CETA , which is about to be concluded . The vote was also open to non-party members and resulted in a rejection of 88% with around 23,000 participants. At Christian Kern's insistence, the EU Commission responded by drafting a nine-page declaration, which became known as the “package insert”, and which clarified controversial CETA chapters. The SPÖ thereupon agreed to the provisional application of the free trade agreement, contrary to the outcome of the party base survey.

On January 11, 2017, Kern presented his basic program (“Plan A”) in Wels, which was also interpreted as an election program for a possible early National Council election in 2017. Two weeks later, Kern issued an ultimatum to the coalition partner to include key points of Plan A in the government program. The coalition finally agreed on a new government program after negotiations. One focus was the intended reduction in unemployment for the 50+ age group with the 20,000 campaign .

2017 election campaign and the Silberstein affair

On May 10, 2017, Vice Chancellor and ÖVP boss Reinhold Mitterlehner surprisingly announced his resignation. His successor at the top of the party was Foreign and Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz . This ended a short time later the coalition and called early elections.

Migration was an issue in the election campaign, as boat crossings from Libya across the central Mediterranean peaked in the summer of 2017 . Kern named here the demands of the ÖVP top candidate Kurz to close this Mediterranean route, populist Vollholler (in the sense of "big nonsense"; Holler = elder ). Although this colloquial choice of words was only made in a background conversation with journalists, it became a household word because the choice of words was picked up by media companies. Vollholler was named Word of the Year 2017.

Presentation of poster subjects (2017)

During the election campaign, Kern and the SPÖ oriented themselves towards “Plan A” and focused on traditional social democratic issues such as the demands for an inheritance tax or a minimum wage . The election campaign was also characterized by mishaps by the SPÖ, so there was even fistfights in Kern's campaign team and the resignation of the previous campaign leader, Stefan Sengl. The end of the election campaign was marked by the Silberstein affair after it became known that the campaign advisor Tal Silberstein , who was committed by Kern, was running Facebook pages together with a team in a Vienna office, which the ÖVP described as an attempt at dirty campaigning . Thereupon two weeks before the election of the SPÖ federal manager Georg Niedermühlbichler resigned, but denied any direct involvement.

In the National Council election on October 15, 2017 , the ÖVP overtook the SPÖ by a considerable margin and became the party with the strongest vote. The SPÖ was able to gain slightly, kept its share of the vote from the 2013 National Council election and landed second just before the FPÖ, which also gained significantly. The Greens left the National Council after 31 years due to the migration of votes, including those to the SPÖ .

Christian Kern is the Federal Chancellor with the third shortest term of office in the Second Republic after Hartwig Löger and Sebastian Kurz - the shortest incumbent Chancellors in Austria were Walter Breisky (one day) and Arthur Seyß-Inquart (two days) in the First Republic.

opposition

After the election, the People's Party and the Freedom Party formed the government short-I . As SPÖ club chairman, Kern became the opposition leader in the National Council. His description of the turquoise-blue federal government as the Moscow pyramid caused a stir . Two open people who support each other . Overall, commentators rated the opposition work of the SPÖ under Kern as “not noticeable”. During this time, under the leadership of Kern, a new SPÖ party program was worked out and, moreover, an increased participation of the SPÖ members in party politics was sought. After Kern resigned, however, this reform was dropped for the time being.

resignation

In mid-September 2018, Kern announced that he would run as the top candidate of the SPÖ in the election to the EU Parliament in May 2019 and that he would resign from the party chairmanship after the election at the latest. As the SPÖ was not prepared for Kern's withdrawal, the search for a new chairman was very chaotic. Finally, Pamela Rendi-Wagner was appointed as Kern's successor as the first woman at the top of the SPÖ. Kern finally gave in at the beginning of October - due to the displeasure of the party members and functionaries about his approach to setting himself up as the top candidate for the EU election, as well as his quick, unsettled resignation and, according to his own statements, his involvement in the “domestic small-and-small” complete resignation from politics known. According to his own statements, Kern wants to dedicate himself to “business and entrepreneurship” in the future.

Pamela Rendi-Wagner was also elected as Kern's successor as club chairman in the National Council. The top candidate for the EU election was Andreas Schieder , who was previously the club's executive chairman. Katharina Kucharowits took over his national council mandate in November 2018 .

According to politics

Kern has been a member of the supervisory board of the Russian state railway RŽD since July 2019 . In spring 2019, Kern's good network in Moscow was given as a reason. He is said to have appeared as the star guest of President Vladimir Putin against the international sanctions against Russia at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg . In 2019 he also became President of the European China Business Council established by the CEATEC ( China Europe Association for Technology and Economic Cooperation ) .

Private

Kern first became a father at the age of 22 and raised his first son alone for a few years. Today he has three sons and a daughter from two marriages. He was married to Karin Wessely, a divorce lawyer and former local politician in Mödling , from 1985 to 1988; with her he has three sons. He has a daughter with Eveline Steinberger-Kern . Kern is non-denominational , was exempt from the armed forces and is a passionate hunter .

Kern's son Nikolaus and Eveline Steinberger-Kern were also active in the 2017 election campaign. Nikolaus Kern caused a stir in the media when he compared Sebastian Kurz's approach to taking over the ÖVP executive chair with that of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's on Twitter . Nikolaus Kern left the SPÖ in 2019. Kern's second wife was in turn involved, together with Hans Peter Haselsteiner and Brigitte Ederer, in the establishment of a platform called “Because it's um was geht”, which aimed to prevent the FPÖ from participating in the government.

Awards

In June 2013, Kern received the Marietta and Friedrich Torberg Medal from the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien (IKG) for the reappraisal of the role of the railway during the Nazi era , the results of which were presented in the ÖBB exhibition "Displaced Years".

Publications

Kern wrote several analytical and programmatic texts. These works include texts on media policy in Austria, on the role of the ÖBB, but also on the politics of the FPÖ under Jörg Haider . Its editors included u. a. also the ÖVP politicians Erhard Busek and Andreas Khol .

literature

Web links

Commons : Christian Kern  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Christian Kern  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Next bang: Kern withdraws from politics . In: news.ORF.at . October 6, 2018 ( orf.at [accessed October 6, 2018]).
  2. ↑ (Misik 2017), Chapter 2, As a working-class child in Simmering [Kindle Edition]
  3. ↑ a b c Oliver Pink : Christian Kern, the Calvinist. In: The press . May 19, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2017 .
  4. ^ New on the train: The future Federal Railways boss Christian Kern in the FORMAT portrait. In: trend. March 12, 2010, accessed September 20, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Media Monitoring. The domestic political reporting of the Austrian daily and weekly newspapers in 1993 . Vienna 1997, Austrian National Library (university diploma thesis; call number 1491775-C).
  6. ↑ Christian Kern on meineabektiven.at
  7. ↑ Christian Kern: Zug nach oben , Der Standard , January 17, 2015
  8. ↑ Rosemarie Schwaiger: ÖBB boss Christian Kern has a chance to succeed Chancellor Faymann. profil.at, August 2, 2014, accessed on February 9, 2018 .
  9. ^ Elisabeth Horvath: The Pelinkas . In: The Austrian Journalist . No. 10 + 11 , 2010, pp. 56–59 ( journalist.at [accessed October 2, 2017]).
  10. ↑ Kern becomes President of the European Railways , Kurier , September 27, 2013
  11. ↑ The Voice of European Railways , on cer.be. Published on September 24, 2015; accessed on September 29, 2015
  12. ↑ Kern dropped millions . In: Courier . September 24, 2017, p.  9 ( Online [accessed October 24, 2017]).
  13. ↑ Ex-Chancellor Christian Kern becomes a tech entrepreneur . In: The press . ( diepresse.com [accessed December 1, 2018]).
  14. ↑ (Misik 2017), Chapter 2, The Seventies - Years of Awakening [Kindle Edition]
  15. ↑ (Misik 2017), Chapter 4, Christian Kern - More soloist than team player? [Kindle Edition]
  16. ↑ ÖBB boss Christian Kern has a chance to succeed Chancellor Faymann , profil , August 2, 2014
  17. ↑ Christian Kern: Chancellor of Hearts , profile , September 16, 2015
  18. ↑ Die die: Kern as SPÖ boss as good as fixed. In: news.ORF.at. May 12, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2016 .
  19. ^ SPÖ: Kern brings four new members of the government . In: The press . ( diepresse.com [accessed February 16, 2017]).
  20. ↑ Delegates elect Kern with 96.8 percent as SPÖ party leader. In: derStandard.at. June 25, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2016 .
  21. ↑ The goal is full employment by 2020 , SPÖ homepage, September 6, 2016
  22. ↑ Michael Völker: "I don't want to be reduced to a one-liner" Interview with video. derstandard.at , September 2, 2016, accessed on September 3, 2016 .
  23. ↑ 88% of SPÖ members against provisional CETA application , Der Standard, September 20, 2016
  24. ↑ Austria and CETA. Yes with conditions , Deutschlandfunk , October 18, 2016
  25. ^ Christian Geinitz, Stephan Löwenstein: An Agenda 2020 for Austria. In: FAZ. January 11, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2017 .
  26. ↑ "New Deal" or "Plan A"? Christian Kern gives a keynote address. In: Courier. January 11, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2017 .
  27. ↑ Michael Völker: Christian Kern: If he only dares. In: The Standard. January 29, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2017 .
  28. ^ New elections: SPÖ issues ultimatum , Die Presse, January 24, 2017
  29. ↑ Kerns Aktion 20,000: The federal government could take in people , Kurier, April 5, 2017
  30. ↑ Martin Zips: Vollholler, der. In: sz.de. December 7, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017 .
  31. ↑ Kern's Vollholler quote on Kurz causes excitement , Kurier, June 17, 2017
  32. ↑ Insults and jostling among comrades in the Federal Chancellery , Die Presse , June 6, 2017
  33. ^ SPÖ program: "I'll get what I'm entitled to". In: Kurier.at. August 2, 2017, accessed February 8, 2018 .
  34. ↑ Election Campaign: Contents and Mud Battles - A Review. In: Nachrichten.at. October 14, 2017, accessed February 8, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Handover at the Chancellery: a matter of 50 seconds . In: Upper Austrian news . December 19, 2017, p.  1 .
  36. ↑ Core to government: "B'soffene who support themselves". In: krone.at. April 15, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018 .
  37. ^ Daniela Kittner: Dilemma for the SPÖ: "Currently no opposition bonus". In: kurier.at. April 23, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018 .
  38. ↑ The new SPÖ party program in detail. In: kurier.at. May 25, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018 .
  39. ^ SPÖ agreed on measures to open up the party. In: orf.at. Österreichischer Rundfunk, September 6, 2018, accessed on September 19, 2018 .
  40. ^ SPÖ does not want to reform for the time being. In: derstandard.at. October 8, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  41. ↑ Lucian Mayringer and Annette Gantner: Christian Kern surprised the SPÖ by withdrawing in installments. In: nachrichten.at. September 18, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  42. ↑ Katharina Mittelstaedt and Günther Oswald: New SPÖ top: Kern is now looking for his successor. In: derstandard.at. September 20, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Pamela Rendi-Wagner: Eloquent, modern, professionally successful. In: tt.com. September 23, 2018, accessed October 8, 2018 .
  44. ↑ Christian Kern on the supervisory board of the Russian railway. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 18, 2019, p. 20.
  45. ↑ Christian Kern is to become a member of the supervisory board of Russian railways. In: derStandard.at. April 30, 2019, accessed on May 6, 2019 (Austrian German).
  46. ↑ Ex-Chancellor Kern now on the supervisory board of the Russian railway. July 16, 2019, accessed July 16, 2019 .
  47. ↑ Ex-Chancellor Kern now European President of China Entrepreneurs Association. In: Kurier.at . September 20, 2019, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  48. ↑ New job for ex-chancellor: Kern is the new European president at a Chinese association. In: Small newspaper . September 20, 2019, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  49. ^ Robert Misik : Christian Kern. A political portrait . Residenz Verlag, Salzburg / Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-7017-4547-0 , Chapter 2 Young father - and the years as a single parent .
  50. ↑ Head of the day: Christian Kern , Der Standard , March 9, 2010
  51. ↑ Dr. Karin Wessely: CV Dr. Karin Wessely. Retrieved September 6, 2017 .
  52. ↑ a b Ex-wife hopes for Christian Kern. NÖN , May 11, 2016, accessed on September 6, 2017 .
  53. ↑ The first big talk with Eveline Steinberger-Kern , Woman , June 1, 2016
  54. ↑ "I believe" - ​​or not. In: Upper Austrian news. April 12, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017 .
  55. ↑ Everybody's Darling: The Red One from the Bobo District . In: Courier . May 15, 2016, p. 4 .
  56. ^ Alfred Pfeiffenberger, Monika Graf: This is the new chancellor . In: Salzburger Nachrichten . No. 111 , May 13, 2016, p. 3 ( Online [accessed October 3, 2019]).
  57. ↑ Chancellor son compares Sebastian Kurz with dictator Idi Amin Die Presse , May 10, 2017
  58. ↑ Karin Leitner: Local and district heads are at 180 . In: Tyrolean daily newspaper . October 3, 2019, p. 3 ( Paywall [accessed October 3, 2019]).
  59. ^ A platform mainly against the FPÖ Die Presse , July 6, 2017
  60. ↑ Torberg Medal for Christian Kern ( Memento from September 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  61. ^ Literature by Christian Kern in the Austrian Union Catalog
  62. ^ "Haiders Kulturkampf" (Vienna: Social Democratic Parliamentary Group, 1995); "INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING IN EUROPE" (Cross Alpine corridors / European Commission in cooperation with BBT SE, Transport; Innsbruck, 2015); “Future with history” In: Past, Present, Future / [Austrian State Archives]. Ed .: Gerhard Artl; Gerhard H. Gütlich; Hubert Zenz. - Vienna, 2012; "Economic motor rail - location factor infrastructure" In: European economic policy of the future / Patrick Horvath ... (Ed.). - Vienna, 2014; "Paper is patient! : Structure and tendencies of political newspaper journalism in Austria “In: Politik am Gängelband der Medien / Erhard Busek ... With contribution by Thomas A. Bauer .... - Vienna, 1998; “ÖBB Company - Future Rail” In: Austrian Political Yearbook 2010 / Andreas Khol ; Ofner, Günther; Karner, Stefan; Halper, Dietmar, Publisher: Wien, Köln, Weimar: Böhlau, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Kern, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian manager and politician (SPÖ), Federal Chancellor
DATE OF BIRTH 4th January 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna