Erich Pramböck

Erich Pramböck (born November 12, 1941 in Grieskirchen (Upper Austria); † March 14, 2009 in Vienna ) was Secretary General of the Austrian Association of Cities from 1988 to 2006 .

Life

Erich Pramböck was born on November 12, 1941 in Grieskirchen, Upper Austria, the only child of Heinrich and Katharina (née Basse) Pramböck and grew up in Gallspach .

Pramböck studied at the University of World Trade (now the Vienna University of Economics ) and completed his graduate studies with the title Master of Business from. As a result, Pramböck received his doctorate with his dissertation as Dr. rer. comm. In 1985 he studied urban development in the USA as part of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship .

After completing his studies, he joined the City of Vienna in 1967 , where he initially worked in financial administration. Two years later he moved to the Economic Planning and Coordination Department. In 1973 he was appointed deputy head of the Vienna coordination office. In this role he played a key role in the urban development plan for Vienna and was also in close contact with the Austrian Association of Cities. On January 1st, 1988 Pramböck was appointed General Secretary of the Austrian Association of Cities and held this office until November 30th, 2006.

Pramböck was married and the father of three sons.

Erich Pramböck died on March 14, 2009 in Vienna.

Politician

During his tenure as General Secretary of the Austrian Association of Cities, the membership was expanded to 248 member communities, in which around 55 percent of the Austrian population live. In addition to Vienna and the provincial capitals, members are practically all municipalities with over 10,000 inhabitants.

The most important technical topics of Pramböck's term of office include financial equalization, co-financing of Austria's accession to the EU, equalization of the abolition of the beverage tax , the transfer of the wage tax to the local tax , the promotion of the remediation of contaminated sites, the financing of hospitals and the stability pact.

Since the opening of the eastern borders in 1989/1990, cooperation with the East has formed a further focus in Pramböck's work. It made it possible for more than 3000 mayors and local decision-makers from the reformed countries to study in various cities and municipalities in order to get to know Austrian local politics in theory and practice. Experience with Austria's accession to the EU was passed on to the candidate and new accession countries as part of the LOGON (Local Governments Network of Central and Eastern European Countries) project. This made the Austrian Association of Towns a hub for municipal know-how transfer between Western, Central and Eastern Europe.

During Pramböck's term of office, the Austrian Association of Cities was enshrined in the Federal Constitution at the end of 1988 (Art. 115 Para. 3 Federal Constitutional Law). As a result, the Austrian Association of Cities and the Association of Austrian Municipalities were appointed by the Federal Constitutional Legislature as the sole legitimate representative of Austrian municipalities vis-à-vis all state, non-governmental, European and international organizations, unless the Federal Constitution provides for any other regulations. In 1994 Pramböck was the first association of cities in the European Union to set up an information office for the Austrian association of cities in Brussels .

Erich Pramböck was the editor-in-chief of the Österreichische Gemeinde-Zeitung (ÖGZ) until his resignation as General Secretary of the Austrian Association of Cities. The ÖGZ is the official, monthly magazine of the Austrian Association of Cities, which presents municipal law and financial policy issues from theory and practice and reports on current issues in the Association's committees as well as on European policy issues.

Until December 2006 he was chairman of the board of the KDZ - Center for Administrative Research (formerly the local science documentation center), which he reorganized in 1999. The KDZ is a non-profit association in the role of a competence center in the areas of governance and public management, quality management, business administration in public administration, electronic government and public finance.

Awards

• On November 20, 2001, Erich Pramböck received the Great Gold Medal of Honor from Governor Michael Häupl for services to the State of Vienna .
• Honorary membership of the Hungarian Association of Towns and Municipalities (TÖOS) 2005
• Honorary membership of the Slovak Association of Towns and Municipalities (SMOZ) 2007
• Honorary membership of the Ukrainian Association of Towns and Municipalities in 2007
• Award of the Salzburg Honorary Cup 2007 by Mayor Heinz Schaden .
• Awarded the Cross of Merit of the City of Innsbruck in 2007.
• Honorary membership in the Austrian Association of Cities in May 2007.
• Golden badge of honor of the Austrian State Mortgage Association 2000.
• Golden Badge of Honor from the Austrian Savings Banks Association November 2006.
• Golden City Hall Man of the City of Vienna November 2007.
• Honorary membership of the Association of Austrian Business in November 2006.
• Gold Medal of Honor of the City of Voitsberg January 2003.
• Awarded the honorary mark of the Gallspach market town in January 2008.
• Member of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship USA since 1985

Web links

• WebService of the City of Vienna: High distinction for Dr. Erich Pramböck