Markus Wallner (politician)

Markus Wallner (2017)

Markus Wallner (born July 20, 1967 in Bludenz ) is an Austrian politician ( ÖVP ). He has been Governor of the State of Vorarlberg since December 7, 2011 .

Live and act

Markus Wallner was born on July 20, 1967 as the son of Herwig and Theresia Wallner in the district capital Bludenz. After attending primary and secondary school, Wallner went to the Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Feldkirch , where he also graduated . After graduating from high school, he began studying political science and history at the University of Innsbruck in 1985 , where he was temporarily chairman of the student body .

After his graduation to Magister philosophiae with a thesis on "contribution to science and research policy in Vorarlberg" in 1990, he was first an employee of the " Digital Equipment Corporation " before it in 1991 as an employee of Industrialists in the European Commission based in Brussels has been. From autumn 1993 he was then responsible for public relations at the Vorarlberg industrial association.

On August 18, 1995, he married his wife Sonja, with whom he subsequently had three children in total in 1998, 2000 and 2007.

First political activity

In 1994 Wallner came into direct contact with politics for the first time when he formally joined the Austrian People's Party (through membership in the Economic and Farmers' Association ) and became a member of the regional office of the Vorarlberg People's Party in Bregenz .

On April 19, 1995, he also took up his first political office as a member of the municipal council of his home parish Frastanz . In April 1997, Markus Wallner became the personal advisor to Governor Herbert Sausgruber , which he remained until he was appointed regional manager of the ÖVP Vorarlberg on November 1, 1999.

Arrived in state politics in 2000

On October 11, 2000, Markus Wallner succeeded his party colleague Greti Schmid , who had been appointed as a member of the Vorarlberg state government , in her function as a member of the state parliament.

From January 29, 2003 he held the office of club chairman of the ÖVP parliamentary group in the Vorarlberg state parliament.

The state parliament mandate was resigned on December 13, 2006, when Wallner took over the post of state governor , i.e. deputy governor, to replace Hans-Peter Bischof, who was leaving the state government .

As such, his area of ​​responsibility in the Vorarlberg state government extended to the areas of health law and social insurance, sanitary matters, assistance for the disabled and, since 2009, building construction, building management, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering as well as cable cars and elevator technology. Until 2009 he was also responsible for culture, further education, archives and libraries as well as music schools, but passed these departments on to Andrea Kaufmann, who had recently joined the state government .

At the top of state politics since 2011

On October 7, 2011, the current governor Herbert Sausgruber surprisingly announced that he would step down in December and nominated Markus Wallner as his successor.

Since the ÖVP had an absolute majority of votes and mandates in Vorarlberg, the nomination was equal to Wallner's fixed appointment. As a result, on October 18, Wallner initially took over as managing director and, since the state party conference on March 17, 2012, officially took over the office of state party chairman of the Vorarlberg People's Party .

In a special session of the Vorarlberg State Parliament on December 7th, 2011, in which Governor Sausgruber was adopted, Markus Wallner was elected Governor by the MPs. Wallner initially continued the single ÖVP government formed by Sausgruber until the 2014 state election .

After the Vorarlberg state election in 2014, he formed the first black-green coalition in Vorarlberg's history with the Vorarlberg Greens , which he continued after the 2019 election. The office of his deputy is exercised by his party colleague Barbara Schöbi-Fink as state governor in the current state government of Wallner III .

Web links

Commons : Markus Wallner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website by Markus Wallner
• Biography of Markus Wallner on the homepage of the Vorarlberger Landtag.
• Personal profile on the Vorarlberg regional government's website.
• Markus Wallner on the website of the Austrian Parliament

Individual evidence

1. ^ Press release on the inauguration of Markus Wallner as governor.
2. ^ ORF Vorarlberg: Sausgruber resigns - Wallner probably successor . Article dated October 7, 2011.
3. ^ Andreas Dünser: ÖVP unanimously nominated Governor Wallner . Article on Vorarlberg Online (VOL.at) from October 18, 2011.
4. ^ ORF Vorarlberg: Markus Wallner elected governor . Article dated December 7, 2011.