Michael Schmid (politician)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Schmid (born June 7, 1945 in Mühldorf am Inn in Bavaria ) is an Austrian architect and politician of the BZÖ (formerly FPÖ ). In 2000 he was Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology .

Life

Michael Schmid went to school in West Styria and in St. Paul im Lavanttal in Carinthia . After studying architecture at the Graz University of Technology , from which he graduated as a graduate engineer, he initially worked as a technical employee in an architecture office and from 1979 as a freelance architect.

In 1989 he began his political career. Without having previously held a political office, he was appointed directly to the Styrian state party leader of the FPÖ. Schmid managed to unite the Styrian party group, which was considered divided, at least outwardly. This earned him respect in the party, so that he quickly made a career in the FPÖ at the national political level. As early as 1990 he became the deputy of the party leader at the time, Jörg Haider . In the same year he moved into the National Council , but left it again in 1991 and became the first FPÖ representative in the Styrian state government (departments: including housing, building law, local spatial planning).

In 2000 Schmid was appointed Minister of Infrastructure in the first Schüssel cabinet . Magda Bleckmann succeeded him as the Styrian regional councilor . He resigned as Minister of Infrastructure as early as November 2000. He was followed by Monika Forstinger after.

At the same time he resigned as the Styrian FPÖ boss. Internal party disputes were mainly responsible for both decisions in the Styrian section of the FPÖ. At first it was difficult for the Styrian regional group to agree on a top candidate for the state elections in 2000, then the election also ended with heavy losses for the FPÖ, for which Schmid took full responsibility.

Several unpopular events occurred during his brief tenure as Minister of Transport. Neighboring the Tyrolean transit routes demonstrated and put Schmid under pressure because of the increasing volume of transit traffic through their state. Schmid was unable to work out a sustainable solution and failed in the EU Council of Ministers with several proposals to ease the situation. Furthermore, Austria was convicted by the European Court of Justice for the truck toll on the Brenner Pass during Schmid's tenure , the ÖBB employees went on strike for the first time in 35 years and Schmid fought public arguments with Erwin Pröll , Governor of Lower Austria , over the Semmering Base Tunnel . Schmid even ordered work on the construction site for the tunnel to be stopped once.

In 2001 he resigned from the FPÖ after a lengthy public dispute over his ministerial pension. The party had asked him to give up his pension and threatened to expel him.

From 2003 Schmid was again active as an advisor to his personal friend Jörg Haider . This persuaded him to return to Styrian state politics in 2005, this time for the newly founded BZÖ party as the top candidate for the Styrian state elections. With only 1.72 percent of the vote, the BZÖ missed entry into the state parliament by far. Schmid then worked as a political advisor at the BZÖ.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schmid, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (FPÖ, BZÖ), member of the state parliament, member of the national council
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Mühldorf am Inn