Erhard Busek

Erhard Busek, Vienna 2013.

Busek, Forum Alpbach 2010.

Erhard Busek (born March 25, 1941 in Vienna ) is an Austrian politician of the ÖVP and former Vice Chancellor . Since 1995 (as of February 2019) the lawyer has been chairman of the board of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe , since 2012 honorary president of the European Forum Alpbach and member of the board of trustees of the A Soul for Europe initiative .

Life

Erhard Busek began his political career in 1964 after completing his studies at the University of Vienna (Dr. iur.) As the second club secretary of the ÖVP in parliament. From 1969 to 1972 he was Deputy General Secretary and from 1972 to 1976 General Secretary of the Austrian Economic Association .

During Bruno Kreisky's chancellorship , he was appointed ÖVP general secretary in 1975/76 and switched to the Vienna state party in 1976, which he gave a green image at the beginning of the environmental protection movement (“colorful birds”). Until 1989, he was state party chairman of the Vienna ÖVP 1978 to 1987 he was deputy mayor and provincial governor -Stellvertreter of Vienna.

In 1989, Busek was appointed Federal Minister for Science and Research in the Austrian Federal Government under Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ). In 1991 he was elected as the successor to Josef Riegler as federal party chairman of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).

As a federal party leader , Busek was - like many of his predecessors - also a member of the government. From 1991 to 1995 he was Vice Chancellor in the grand coalition with the SPÖ and at the same time Federal Minister for Science and Research (until 1994) and Federal Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs (1994–1995).

In 1995 he was replaced at the top of the ÖVP by Wolfgang Schüssel . His dismissal was the result of a campaign by Hans Dichand , the then editor of the Kronen Zeitung . In the documentary '' Kronen Zeitung - a tabloid piece every day ", Busek said:" I was always independent of the Kronen Zeitung, only I paid a price for it. That is, of course, the price to those who have come to terms with the Kronen Zeitung, that is the price that they then pay among their own party members because there is the opinion that one cannot really stand up to the Kronen Zeitung. "

In the following years he devoted himself increasingly to his Central European and cultural interests and in 1995 took over the chairmanship of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe. He has been the coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) since 1996 and was government commissioner for EU expansion from 2000 to 2002 . From January 2002 to June 2008 he was special coordinator of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe .

Erhard Busek, former Vice Chancellor D., Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe , opened the 5th European Symposium Kaisersteinbruch # Paneuropabewbewegung-Austria as guest of honor and keynote speaker on July 14, 2002 . “A common understanding of other cultures comes from art, ” emphasized Busek. In the presence of the Ambassador of Bulgaria Elena Kirtcheva and the Ambassador of Estonia Mart Laanemäe, artistic works from both countries were presented. Both Bulgaria and Estonia were not yet part of the European Union . The sculptor Stefan Ljutakov from Sofia was with the youth chamber choir “Hll. Kyrill und Method “present.

Busek is counted among the Catholic - liberal wing of the ÖVP, was and is considered a critical intellectual in his party and is also active as a publicist . In his publications he mainly deals with the international role of Austria, especially for Central Europe, cultural policy and cooperation with neighboring countries to the east. Up until the fall of the Wall in 1989 , he was involved in supporting dissident movements, with whom he cooperated in their new functions after 1989 through the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe . In 2000 he became President of the European Forum Alpbach (EFA), in which he now acts as Honorary President. In 2005 he became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Erste Foundation. In 1995 he took over the leadership of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (BMJO), where Claudio Abbado was music director.

Since October 22, 2004, Erhard Busek was the first rector of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences . In spring 2011 he was followed by Kerstin Fink in this position. Busek is a visiting professor at Duke University .

Together with ÖVP politicians like Andreas Khol and Herbert Kohlmaier , he founded a Catholic lay alliance that calls for the abolition of compulsory celibacy in the Catholic priesthood and the ordination of women as deacons .

Every year since 2002, Busek and Oliver Vujovic from the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) have awarded the Dr. Erhard Busek SEEMO Award for Better Understanding in South East Europe . Busek has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ERSTE Foundation since 2005 . He is also a member of the European Council for Tolerance and Reconciliation .

On November 21, 2016, Busek resigned his membership as Knight of Honor of the Order of St. George , as the appearances of the Procurator of the Order (Norbert van Handel) led, in his opinion, to a confusion of the Order with a political organization, which Busek's opinion of the content and contradict the mission of the Order; this gives the order a political perspective that Busek cannot represent.

Awards

Erhard Busek received honorary doctorates from the Montan University in Krakow, as well as the universities in Bratislava, Chernivtsi, Ruse, Brasov, Liberec and the Webster-St. Louis University in Vienna. He holds awards from Poland, Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Romania and the Czech Republic, is Honorary Senator of the Medical University of Innsbruck, and received the Corvinus Prize from the European Institute in Budapest.

1991: Honorary membership of the Künstlerhaus Wien

1994: Great Golden Decoration for Services to the State of Vienna with the Star

2003: Czech Merit Medal

2003: Grand Officer of the Star of Romania

2004: Grand Cross of the New Year's Eve

2006: St. Anna Prize "for special merits in the spiritual and cultural reunification of the countries of Central Europe"

2006: Julius Raab Medal of the Austrian Economic Association

2007: Corvinus Prize from the Budapest European Institute

2011: Order of the White Double Cross , 2nd class, of the Slovak Republic

2019: Silver Order of Merit ( Srebrni red za zasluge ) of the Republic of Slovenia

Quotes

"Fortunately, the knowledge of Latin is disappearing, otherwise the citizen would know that the ministry is called" service "." (Erhard Busek 2000)
“Further ratification would be blooming nonsense. It would be more important to analyze the upcoming. Then you would come to the conclusion that the rulers left the citizens standing not only with the constitution, but with the entire development ... Everyone acted as dusters, that is the problem ” (Erhard Busek in June 2005 after the rejection of the European Constitution by France and the Netherlands)

Fonts

with Meinrad Peterlik: The unfinished republic. History and Politics Publishing House, 1968.
with Gerhard Wilflinger: Criticism of Democracy - Reform of Democracy. 1969.
with Christian Festa and Inge Görner: On the way to a qualitative market economy. Oldenbourg, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-486-44351-8 .
(Ed.): Courage to walk upright. Contributions to a different type of policy. Herold, Vienna 1983.
with Emil Brix : Project Central Europe. Ueberreuter, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-8000-3227-9 .
with Wolfgang Mantl and Meinrad Peterlik: Science and Freedom. Ideas about university and universality. Oldenbourg, Vienna-Munich 1989.
Paths to the future . In: Lainz - Pavilion V. Background and motifs of a criminal case . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-8000-3339-9 , p. 88 ff .
Home politics based in life. Braintrust, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-901116-10-9 .
with Rudolf Bretschneider : People in Word. Speeches and essays. Atelie, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-85308-004-9 .
Central Europe: Securing evidence. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-218-00633-3 .
with Martin Schauer (Ed.): A European Excitation. The “sanctions” of the Fourteen against Austria in 2000. Analysis and Comments. Böhlau, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-205-77121-4 .
The cross-border commuter. Festschrift for Hans Marte. Wieser, 2000, ISBN 3-85129-323-1 .
with Georg Winckler , Konrad Paul Liessmann and Hans-Uwe Erichsen: The future of the university. Wuv, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-85114-551-8 .
Central Europe Almanac, Hungary. Molden 2002, ISBN 3-85485-070-0 .
Austria and the Balkans. How to deal with Europe's powder keg. Molden, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85485-020-4 .
Open gate to the east. Europe's great opportunity. Molden, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-85485-092-1 .
with Werner Mikulitsch: The European Union on the way east. Molden 2003, ISBN 3-85129-405-X .
with Dagmar Abfalter: Culture and Economy. Studies, 2004, ISBN 3-7065-1906-2 .
Too little too late. Europe needs better crisis management. Körber Foundation, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89684-131-5 .
with Anton Pelinka : OUR TIME: Thinking ahead. Understood backwards . GALILA Verlag, Etsdorf am Kamp 2014, ISBN 978-3-902533-63-0 .
Life pictures . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2014
with Trautl Brandstaller : Republic in Transition - A pamphlet in ten chapters . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2016
with Emil Brix: Central Europe revisited: Why Europe's future will be decided in Central Europe. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2018, ISBN 978-3-218-01108-2 (hardcover), ISBN 978-3-218-01119-8 (EPUB).

literature

Elisabeth Welzig (Ed.): Erhard Busek - A portrait. Böhlau, Vienna 1992.
Rudolf Bretschneider, Peter Bochskanl (ed.): Mensch im Wort - Erhard Busek - speeches and essays. Atelier 1994, ISBN 3-85308-004-9 .