Christoph Vavrik

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christoph Vavrik (2012)

Christoph Vavrik (born May 2, 1961 in Geneva ) is an Austrian politician ( ÖVP , formerly NEOS ) and former manager. He was a founding member of the NEOS party  - The New Austria and Liberal Forum  and from October 29, 2013 to November 8, 2017 a member of the  Austrian National Council .

education and profession

Vavrik put 1979 at Lycée Français de Vienne his Matura and studied in the following social and economic sciences at the  Vienna University of Economics . After completing his studies in Vienna, Vavrik completed his military service from 1984 to 1985 . He then continued his education at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University , where he studied international relations first in Bologna and then in Washington, DC, graduating with honors in 1988. 

In 1987 Vavrik worked as an assistant in the international law office of the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs , after which he was attaché to the Austrian embassy in Lusaka , Zambia . After returning to Austria, he was active as Brand Manager of Procter & Gamble Austria from 1988 to 1992 , and from 1992 to 1995 he was in the same position at Procter & Gamble Arabian Peninsula. He became Marketing Director of Procter & Gamble Hellas in 1995, moved to Procter & Gamble Euroco as Marketing Director in 1999 and was then Marketing Director at Procter & Gamble Balkans from 2001 to 2003. In 2003 he moved to Danone Romania as Marketing Director before taking over the management of Danone Greece / Cyprus (Danone Hellas) in 2005. Most recently he was managing director of Danone Gesellschaft mbH from 2009 to 2012

Politics and functions

Vavrik left Danone in 2012 to become involved in the democratic movement “Phoenix”, from which the NEOS - Das Neue Österreich party would later  emerge. As one of the founding members, he made a significant contribution to the development of the NEOS party program and in April 2013 took over the role of state spokesman for Styria. He held this position until 2014. Vavrik ran for the  2013 National Council election  and emerged as the top candidate for the Styrian constituency in the party's internal pre-election process. After NEOS made it into the National Council with a nationwide result of 5.0%, Christoph Vavrik was sworn in as a member of parliament on October 29, 2013. He then took over the functions of area spokesman for foreign policy, internal affairs and ombudsman of the “Club NEOS Das Neue Österreich und Liberales Forum”. In addition, from 2013 to 2015 he was NEOS regional spokesman for Styria.

Vavrik became chairman of the parliamentary friendship groups with Greece and Kosovo. In this role he headed several non-partisan delegations abroad. He was also known for his fight against the global death penalty. In the course of his work in the National Council, Vavrik repeatedly spoke out in favor of maintaining EU sanctions against the Russian Federation in connection with the Crimean crisis. He himself was an OSCE election observer in Ukraine in 2014 and has since then repeatedly called for greater support for the country from the European Union, particularly with regard to the development of democratic structures.

Vavrik also appeared as a sharp critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan . In his national council speeches, he repeatedly criticized the serious human rights violations under Erdoğan and spoke out in favor of breaking off accession negotiations between the European Union and Turkey. In May 2016, the National Council accepted a motion submitted by Vavrik, which called on the EU Commission to critically examine the human rights situation in Turkey and, if necessary, to break off the accession negotiations.

Criticism and change to the ÖVP

On November 5, 2016, Christoph Vavrik commented on his Facebook profile on a news article by orf.at about the first adoption by a same-sex couple in Austria with the words “ O tempora, o mores! Future civilizations will look at such social abnormalities with the same lack of understanding as we do today at slavery ... ” . This statement quickly came under public criticism because it was viewed as homophobic and Vavrik was particularly accused of being compared with slavery. Vavrik then apologized for the wrong choice of words and the wrong historical reference. The Greens , especially their Viennese state spokesman Joachim Kovacs , immediately demanded Vavrik's resignation. His own party, NEOS, also quickly distanced itself from the MP's choice of words, stating that it did not correspond to the party line on the issue of homosexual rights. The designated NEOS General Secretary Nikola Donig stated that it was a "massive verbal derailment" from which the party distanced itself. It was also announced that Vavrik would no longer be on the NEOS list in the next National Council election. After a board meeting of NEOS on November 7th, it was announced that Vavrik would resign from his national council mandate before the end of the legislative period and thus resign in a few weeks. When asked in an interview in January 2017 that Vavrik had still not resigned, party leader Matthias Strolz replied to Standard that it had been agreed with him "that he will hand over his mandate by the end of the first quarter."

On March 30, 2017, just one day before the end of the first quarter mentioned, his move to the ÖVP club and, associated with it, his stay as a member of the National Council was announced completely surprising. ÖVP club chairman Reinhold Lopatka emphasized that although they did not share the controversial statement, they wanted to give Vavrik a second chance. Christoph Vavrik himself described his departure from the NEOS club and party and his entry into the ÖVP as a return to his political home. As a member of the ÖVP club, he remained a member of the National Council until the end of the legislative period on November 8, 2017 and did not run again in the 2017 National Council election .

Awards

Private

Vavrik is married and has two children. He has dual Austrian-French citizenship and is the son of the former diplomat Harald Vavrik .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neos want more engagement against the death penalty. In: derStandard.at . June 11, 2016, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  2. ^ NEOS: No place in the EU for anti-democrat Erdogan . NEOS press release from May 20, 2016 on APA-OTS.
  3. ↑ a b Neos-Mandatar about adoption by gay couple: "Abnormalities". In: derStandard.at . November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Homo-adoption as "abnormality": Neos-Mandatar no longer runs. In: DiePresse.com . November 7, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Verbal derailment: Neos-Mandatar Vavrik leaves parliament earlier. In: derStandard.at . November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Matthias Strolz wants a supervisor for every asylum seeker. In: derStandard.at . January 7, 2017, accessed January 16, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Controversial Neos MP Vavrik changes to the ÖVP. In: DiePresse.com . March 30, 2017, accessed March 30, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Styrian MPs: Who goes, who stays. In: steiermark.ORF.at. July 13, 2017, accessed February 16, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Decoration of Honor awarded by the State of Styria . Article dated May 24, 2018, accessed May 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ Decoration of Honor awarded by the State of Styria: List of those honored . Article dated May 24, 2018, accessed May 24, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Vavrik, Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (ÖVP), member of the National Council
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Geneva