Norbert Darabos

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Norbert Darabos 2012

Norbert Darabos [ ˈdarabɔʃ ] (born May 31, 1964 in Vienna ) is a former Austrian politician ( SPÖ ). Until February 28, 2019 he was Provincial Councilor for Social Affairs and Health in the Burgenland Provincial Government . From 2007 he was Minister of Defense of the Republic of Austria during the Federal Governments of Gusenbauer and Federal Government of Faymann I , where he also took over responsibility for sports matters from the Federal Chancellery during his second government membership. On March 11, 2013, he resigned as Minister of Defense in order to take up the post of Federal Managing Director of the SPÖ again and to lead the party's election campaign for the 2013 National Council election in Austria .

Life

Norbert Darabos grew up in the Croatian Minihof village in Burgenland . After graduating from high school, he began studying history and political science at the University of Vienna in 1982, which he completed in 1988. In the meantime, he completed his community service in 1987/88. Darabos is married, has two children and belongs to the Burgenland-Croatian ethnic group .

politics

Politically, Darabos first appeared in 1987 as a member of Nikitsch's municipal council . He held this position until 2003. From 1988 to 1991 Darabos was regional director of the Renner Institute in Burgenland and from 1991 to 1997 press spokesman for Governor Karl Stix . Since 1998 he has held the position of regional manager of the SPÖ Burgenland and has been a member of the Burgenland state parliament since May 19, 1999 . From December 2000 to March 2003 Darabos was club chairman of the SPÖ state parliament club.

On March 3, 2003 Darabos became Federal Managing Director of the SPÖ. In 2004 he led the election campaign for the future Federal President Heinz Fischer . In the same year Darabos was sworn in as a member of the Austrian National Council. For the 2006 National Council election , he led the SPÖ's election campaign with its top candidate Alfred Gusenbauer , where, according to the media, he also used methods of "dirty campaigning".

In the legislative period up to 2013 he is a member of the following committees: Committee on Internal Affairs, Justice Committee, Transport Committee.

Defense Minister

After the 2006 National Council election , in which the SPÖ was the party with the strongest vote, Darabos was a member of the negotiating team for the coalition negotiations with the ÖVP . In the grand coalition that followed, he became Minister of Defense, the first former civil servant in this office.

Eurofighter negotiations

At the beginning, the focus of his work as minister was the negotiations with EADS about a possible withdrawal from the Eurofighter contract. According to an opinion by the Austrian legal expert Helmut Koziol on the procurement process, Darabos negotiated a reduction in the number of items from 18 to 15 items as well as a reduction in (combat) performance. Darabos was criticized by several parties for not having waited for the results of the investigation by the committee of inquiry , but for having brought the negotiations to an end based on the Koziol report.

In its report published on August 22, 2008 , the Court of Auditors responsible for the renegotiations criticized the outcome of the negotiations, but also confirmed the savings of 267 million euros through the reduction in the number of interceptors through the downgrade to used aircraft of the first tranche and savings the additional equipment.

Darabos countered the criticism by saying that the renegotiations he had led the Republic of Austria saved 267 million euros in expenses, which were remitted by EADS in the spring of 2009 , and with savings in operating costs of over one billion euros with an expected service life of 30 Years.

US missile shield

In August 2007 Darabos described the US missile shield planned in the Czech Republic and Poland as a "provocation" in an interview with the daily newspaper Die Presse . Criticism of this statement came from the Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg ("Mr. Darabos is a person with a decidedly pacifist orientation, which is certainly praiseworthy, but strange for a defense minister."), The then US administration of George W. Bush and the ÖVP . According to a dispatch from the US embassy leaked to WikiLeaks , Darabos had previously been criticized by the Austrian military. Embassy staff reported: “Military contacts complain to us that he is unable, perhaps unwilling, to increase the budget for the military. He is described as an ambitious politician who was deported against his will to a less desirable ministerial post in Austria. ”In September 2009, the new US President Barack Obama stopped the controversial US missile shield.

Chad mission

In October 2007 Darabos decided to deploy the Austrian Armed Forces in Chad . The humanitarian aid mission was subsequently extended under a UN mandate . The Minister of Defense is likely to have made the decision for this mission during an exploratory trip. In a speech Darabos said: “Although a defense minister should rarely show emotions and feelings, I would like to be very frank: When visiting a refugee camp, it was very close to me to see how these people are in permanent fear, in great poverty and without Hope for a better future must live. During the return flight to Vienna, the final decision was made that we would help, that we would do something to protect these people. "

Standing up against right-wing extremist tendencies in the armed forces

A central concern of Darabos' as defense minister is the fight against right-wing extremist tendencies in the armed forces . In 2009 he ended the longstanding participation of army representatives and the logistical support of the armed forces at the Ulrichsberg meeting in Carinthia. At the beginning of 2010 he announced the creation of a historians commission to investigate the history of the Belgian barracks in Graz during the National Socialist era . In January 2012, Darabos forbade members of the armed forces to wear the army uniform when attending the Vienna Corporations Ball , as there is “the who's who of the national and international extreme right” among those attending the ball and they “do not want to give the impression that that the Austrian Armed Forces support such ideas ”.

The presentation and content of the memorial in the Äußere Burgtor in Vienna, the central location for official soldiers' memorials in Austria since its inauguration in 1824, was revised in several steps on the initiative of the Minister in 2012. After Harald Walser, Member of the National Council ( Die Grünen ), announced that Josef Vallaster also appeared in the death books in the crypt of the castle gate , this name was deleted and the books were removed for investigation by scientists to find out whether other Nazi war criminals were also involved appear in it. The monument of the “lying / fallen soldier” from 1935, whose creator Wilhelm Frass had claimed to have deposited an homage to National Socialism , was also examined . A metal capsule with such a text was found in the base of the epitaph and removed in July 2012. Darabos also began planning a fundamental redesign of the memorial, where, among other things, a wreath-laying ceremony by members of the federal government takes place every year on the national holiday.

Conscription debate

In January 2011, the plans for a reform of the armed forces with the abolition of compulsory military service provided for nationwide discussions and led to a rift with the chief of staff Edmund Entacher and the Austrian officers' society (request for resignation from the ÖOG or comparison of the importance of the association with that of the SC Croatian Minihof by the Minister). Entacher was deposed by Darabos, which he justified with a loss of confidence, whereupon the latter lodged a complaint with the Appeals Commission in the Federal Chancellery, which revoked the deposition in November 2011.

Just a few months before the initiative to abolish compulsory military service, Darabos himself described it as "carved in stone" and the best model for Austria, which will not change during his tenure as Defense Minister. In addition, the maintenance of compulsory military service was specified in the SPÖ / ÖVP government program. The debate about the abolition of compulsory military service was initiated by Darabos' party colleague, Vienna Mayor Michael Häupl , during the election campaign for the state and municipal council elections in Vienna in 2010 . It led to the referendum on compulsory military service in Austria in 2013 , in which a majority voted in favor of maintaining it.

Looking back, Darabos publicly admitted: “I was the disruptive factor in the house”.

Again federal manager of the SPÖ

On March 4, 2013 it was announced that Darabos would resign as defense minister and return to the party headquarters as federal manager. Gerald Klug , the leader of the SPÖ delegation in the Federal Council, was named as successor in media reports . Darabos' main task was initially to lead the party's election campaign for the 2013 National Council election in Austria .

Provincial Council in Burgenland

In June 2015 it was announced that Darabos is leaving the party headquarters in Vienna and will be a member of the Niessl IV state government as regional councilor for social affairs and health . In the state government Doskozil I followed him on February 28, 2019 Heinrich Dorner by the provincial government. Darabos is supposed to work again as the country's historian, to run a “House of Contemporary History”. In March 2019, he was appointed President of the Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution in Schlaining for four years as the successor to Peter Kostelka .

criticism

Darabos 'term of office as defense minister was repeatedly accompanied by sometimes harsh criticism from organizations such as the militia association and the officers' society. During a visit to the troops in Mautern, he responded to these critics with a keynote address in which he clearly committed himself to the Austrian Armed Forces and national military defense and stated that he was never and never would be a militarist . In the so-called Mautern speech , Darabos spoke of his vision of a humanistic federal army. From the beginning, criticism of Darabos came from the coalition partner ÖVP. Their former Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel criticized Darabos in relation to former US Ambassador Susan McCaw with the words that Darabos was "a real disappointment as a Defense Minister".

In May 2012, Darabos was heavily criticized for calling incumbent Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman "unbearable" in an interview with the newspaper Presse on Sunday ; In this context, Darabos also criticized the Israeli policy towards Iran and the Palestinians. The Austrian Foreign Ministry headed by Michael Spindelegger (ÖVP) distanced itself from these statements. The Simon Wiesenthal Center described Darabos' statements as “playing down the Iranian threat” and “modern anti-Semitism”. The center's director, Shimon Samuels, asked the defense minister to resign. The President of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien , Oskar Deutsch , called Darabos "ignorant, cynical or both".

Awards (excerpt)

literature

  • Johann Kriegler: Political manual of Burgenland. Volume 3: (1996-2001) (= Burgenland Research. 84). Burgenland State Archives, Eisenstadt 2001, ISBN 3-901517-29-4 .

Web links

Commons : Norbert Darabos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norbert Darabos: Farewell to politics . Article dated February 27, 2019, accessed February 27, 2019.
  2. ^ Orf.at: SPÖ: Dorner presented as a new regional councilor . Article dated February 4, 2019, accessed February 27, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b Der Standard : Smart new defense minister, Darabos becomes federal manager , March 4, 2013
  4. ^ Norbert Darabos: On the self-image of the Burgenland Croats in the Second Republic. 1988, accessed on November 9, 2011 (diploma thesis).
  5. ↑ From failure to winner, at least in terms of image Die Presse , May 11, 2013
  6. ↑ Norbert Darabos: I was the disruptive factor in Der Standard , March 7, 2013
  7. ^ Website of the Austrian Parliamentary Committees
  8. ↑ Wiener Zeitung : Bad report for the Eurofighter comparison , August 22, 2008 (accessed on November 7, 2013)
  9. ↑ Die Presse : "US Missile Defense is a Provocation," August 22, 2007
  10. ↑ Die Presse : Prague: Darabos Pacifism is “Strange” , 23 August 2007
  11. ↑ Der Standard - Gerhard Mangott , Martin Senn: Dispute about rocket shield: Who provokes whom? Why the US criticism of Norbert Darabos is nowhere near , August 27, 2007
  12. ↑ a b Die Presse : Wikileaks: What US officials think of Strache , January 26, 2011
  13. ↑ Die Presse : Darabos wants to fight right-wing extremism in the army , January 4, 2010
  14. ^ Die Presse : Ulrichsberg-Treffen: Darabos cancels participation of the army , August 25, 2009
  15. ↑ Kleine Zeitung : Darabos declares war on right-wing extremism in the armed forces , January 4, 2010
  16. ↑ Der Standard / Colette M. Schmidt: The uniform stays in the locker for dancing at the WKR ball, January 11, 2012
  17. ^ ORF : Krypta: Darabos struck SS war criminals ( memento from June 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), June 17, 2012
  18. ↑ Der Standard : "Fallen Warrior": Nazi metal capsule found in Burgtor crypt , July 19, 2012
  19. ↑ Salzburger Nachrichten : Darabos relocates the wreath-laying ceremony , October 12, 2012
  20. ↑ Otmar Lahodynsky: "We stand in front of the cliff": Chief of Staff Edmund Entacher in an interview. profil , January 22, 2011, accessed on November 9, 2011 : “Why should I introduce a new system that is full of risks and from which there is no turning back? No sensible person would do that. "
  21. ↑ ORF : Pronounced what many think ( Memento from January 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). January 25, 2011
  22. ↑ APA / burg: Disgrace for Darabos: Entacher wins proceedings. derStandard.at, November 7, 2011, accessed on November 7, 2011 : “The removal of Chief of Staff Edmund Entacher by Defense Minister Norbert Darabos (SPÖ) was illegal. The Appeals Commission at the Federal Chancellery has repealed the decision of the Defense Ministry's transfer without replacement. "
  23. ↑ red .: Bankruptcy for Darabos: General Entacher returns. Die Presse , November 7, 2011, accessed November 7, 2011 .
  24. ↑ Red general triumphs over red minister. Wiener Zeitung , November 7, 2011, accessed on November 7, 2011 .
  25. ^ Government program 2008-2013. (PDF) Austrian Federal Government , 2008, pp. 144f , archived from the original on July 16, 2011 ; Retrieved on November 8, 2011 : “ Conscription and militia: The federal government is committed to an army that is based on general conscription, militia and professional components and to maintain military service, which has been shortened to six months. [...] Conscription is the prerequisite for continuously securing those personnel who are required to cover the entire range of services of the Austrian Armed Forces. The general conscription promotes the commitment of young citizens for the common good and a good integration of the armed forces in society. "
  26. ↑ Gerald John, Nina Weissensteiner: Norbert Darabos: "I was the disruptive factor in the house" . In: Der Standard , March 7, 2013.
  27. ^ Salzburger Nachrichten : Castling after state elections: Norbert Darabos resigns , March 4, 2013
  28. ↑ derStandard.at - SPÖ Federal Managing Director Darabos becomes Provincial Councilor for Social Affairs and Health in Burgenland . Article dated June 8, 2015, accessed June 8, 2015.
  29. ^ Orf.at: SPÖ: Dorner presented as a new regional councilor . Article dated February 4, 2019, accessed February 20, 2019.
  30. ↑ orf.at: Doskozil sworn in as governor . Article dated February 28, 2019, accessed February 28, 2019.
  31. ^ Orf.at: Peace Institute: Darabos new President . Article dated March 18, 2019, accessed March 19, 2019.
  32. ↑ Darabos now honorary president of the Schlaining Peace Institute . Article dated March 19, 2019, accessed March 19, 2019.
  33. ↑ Der Standard : Darabos' “Unprecedented” Criticism of Israel's Foreign Minister , May 20, 2012
  34. ↑ Der Standard : Simon Wiesenthal Center asks Darabos to resign on May 23, 2012
  35. ^ Die Presse : IKG: "Darabos has problems with living Jews" May 24, 2012
  36. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Darabos, Norbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (SPÖ), member of the state parliament, member of the National Council
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna