Erwin Buchinger

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Erwin Buchinger (Vienna 2008)

Erwin Buchinger (born December 25, 1955 in Mauthausen ) is an Austrian politician ( SPÖ ). From January 11, 2007 to December 2, 2008, he was a member of the cabinet under Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer as Federal Minister for Social Affairs and on December 16, 2009 he was appointed Austrian disability lawyer. He left this position in March 2017 to take a position as a national expert at the OECD in Paris.

Political career

Erwin Buchinger was born in Mauthausen (Upper Austria) in 1955 as the third of seven children. After graduating from the Bundesrealgymnasium in Rohrbach in 1973 , he completed his military service in Klagenfurt and Vienna. After studying law and economics at the Johannes Kepler University Linz (from 1975) Buchinger received his doctorate in law in 1981. From 1981 to 1991 he worked as a lawyer at the regional labor office in Upper Austria, after which he became head of the regional labor office in Salzburg and regional manager of the AMS Salzburg. In 2004 Buchinger became the Salzburg Social Councilor in the team of Governor Gabi Burgstaller .

After the election to the National Council in 2006 , Erwin Buchinger was a member of the Federal Government formed by Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer as Minister of Social Affairs and was sworn in on January 11, 2007. After the new elections in 2008 , he no longer belonged to the new Faymann I cabinet , but worked again for the labor market service, this time in Vienna.

On December 16, 2009, Buchinger was appointed Austrian disability lawyer. He replaced Herbert Haupt , who had held the office since its creation in 2006. As with its predecessor, the decision had been heavily criticized in advance, as in the opinion of associations for the disabled, a person directly affected would be better suited. However, the fact that Buchinger's now adult son Maco is severely disabled is kept secret.

Political line

State politics

Erwin Buchinger represents a “left-wing” line. Among other things, he advocates an employee-friendly social policy. He already drew attention to himself in the Salzburg state politics as head of the labor market service : After the machine manufacturer Emco, owned by Mirko Kovats , had fired 60 employees from the company, Buchinger demanded a labor foundation for those affected. He also asked Emco to hold a 50 percent stake in the foundation. After Buchinger became a state councilor, he spoke out in favor of harmonizing the retirement age in Salzburg. In addition, he raised the pension security contribution of old politicians by 2.3%.

Government work

Shortly before the 2006 National Council election, Buchinger presented a draft for the needs-based basic security that the SPÖ demanded in the election campaign at the time. This included an increase to 800 euros and standardization of regional social assistance . However, the question of financing remained open at the time. In the later coalition negotiations with the ÖVP in particular , this draft was criticized as a license to work illegally . As a result of the negotiations, the SPÖ agreed on an amount of 726 euros. In 2008 the UN described the basic security model as violating human rights, as it does not include support for stateless persons and refugees. Buchinger planned to increase the wealth tax in order to finance the basic security. However, since there were no concrete plans for such an increase, probably the largest in the Second Republic, this idea was rejected.

Another demand of Buchinger was the so-called solidarity pension from civil servants. After his proposal, he wanted to make the pension reform that the Federal Government Schüssel I had carried out more socially. For example, recipients of pensions that are above the maximum social security pension should have paid a contribution of at least 10% into a solidarity fund. With the income of 500 million euros, as provided in Buchinger's plans, a new heavy labor regulation was to be introduced.

After the care scandal surrounding the former Chancellors Wolfgang Schüssel and Franz Vranitzky , the demand for a settlement of this problem was also in the foreground in the Social Democratic Party. In this area, Buchinger called for the creation of a care fund endowed with 200 million euros. This was intended to facilitate the financing - through state subsidies - of the care of the needy.

After Erwin Buchinger had been brought into Alfred Gusenbauer's team as Minister of Social Affairs, Buchinger emphasized the need for a wealth tax to fight poverty. This demand for the reintroduction of the tax caused great excitement among coalition partner ÖVP. Economics and Labor Minister Martin Bartenstein said the coalition negotiations would have resulted in no tax increases. This also includes the introduction of new taxes. Buchinger made his request specific and explicitly expressed himself in favor of a levy of 0.5% of the assets of those who own more than 500,000 euros. Soon after the coalition collapsed in the summer of 2008, Buchinger announced that he would no longer be part of a new government. After the Faymann I government was sworn in on December 2, 2008, Erwin Buchinger moved to the Public Employment Service in Vienna on December 3, where he was responsible for special projects until May 5, 2017. The chairman of the board of the Vienna AMS is his brother Herbert Buchinger .

Appearance

Buchinger is described in the media as part of the left wing of the Social Democratic Party. On the other hand, he is called populist several times .

In 2007 he was asked in a chat with the daily newspaper Der Standard what had to happen in order for him to have his beard and hair cut. In response, he stated a donation for a social, charitable cause in the amount of at least 5000 euros. In fact, shortly afterwards, 12,500 euros were donated to the nineerHAUS , an organization that wants to make living in Vienna possible for the homeless, whereupon Buchinger kept his promise.

In the summer of 2007, Buchinger spoke out in favor of introducing the non-working month for fathers after the birth of the child. On the part of the People's Party, there was severe criticism from MP Werner Amon . He referred to this as summer slump populism . Buchinger's proposal did not succeed.

Private life

Buchinger lives in Vienna with his second wife Marina Laux and his son Benjamin (* 2010). Laux was the managing director of the SPÖ women in Salzburg. Buchinger's first marriage resulted in his children Maco and Nina.

literature

Web links

Commons : Erwin Buchinger  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1] , from minute 29:30.
  2. ↑ derstandard.at: "Ex-Minister of Social Affairs Buchinger becomes the new lawyer for the disabled" , December 16, 2009. Accessed December 16, 2009.
  3. ↑ derstandard.at: “Erwin Buchinger as a lawyer for the disabled is not 'authentic' enough” , December 13, 2009. Accessed December 16, 2009.
  4. ↑ bizeps.or.at: "Clear foul in a match for the future" , February 12, 2007. Accessed on December 16, 2009.
  5. ↑ diepresse.com
  6. ↑ diepresse.com
  7. ↑ diepresse.com
  8. ↑ diepresse.com
  9. ↑ diepresse.com
  10. ↑ diepresse.com
  11. ↑ diepresse.com
  12. ↑ diepresse.com
  13. ↑ derStandard.at - Buchinger's beard is back . Article dated March 22, 2007, accessed October 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ diepresse.com
personal data
SURNAME Buchinger, Erwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (SPÖ)
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Mauthausen