Thomas Waitz

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Thomas Waitz (2019)

Thomas Waitz (born on May 16, 1973 in Vienna ) is an Austrian organic farmer , forester and politician for the Greens . He was a member of the European Parliament from November 2017 until the 2019 European elections in Austria . After the Brexit on January 31, 2020, Austria was assigned another seat, which fell to it. November 2019 he was elected co-chair of the European Greens together with Evelyne Huytebroeck by the Belgian Greens ( Ecolo , Groen ).

Life

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Waitz is the son of a railroad worker. In his family he had a strong connection to agriculture - on his mother's side to Lower Austria and southern Hungary , on his father's side to Styria . He attended school in Vienna and was then a “globetrotter” for a few years. Since 1994 he has been working as a forestry and farmer in southern Styria. The joint farm in the Leibnitz district on the Slovenian border, which he co-manages, comprises 40 hectares of its own area and around 10 hectares of leased land. One focus of his organic farm is the wood industry . He manages his mixed forest in plenter operation according to the principles of near-natural forest management . He is also co-owner of a small sawmill in neighboring Slovenia . Waitz's second operational focus is the organic beekeeping run together with his partner . The community yard also breeds Krainer stone sheep, breeds and trains Border Collies as herding dogs, as well as a small self-service shop.

Waitz is the father of three children.

Political activity

Since joining the Greens , Waitz has held a wide variety of functions. He was treasurer at the Green Education Workshop in Styria, member of the Styrian regional executive committee, member of the extended federal executive committee. Waitz has been involved in the green organization Green Farmers (GBB) for over 10 years, and since autumn 2017 he has also been the chairman of GBB Styria and GBB Austria. Until 2016 he was also the first and so far only Green Chamber Councilor in the State Chamber for Agriculture and Forestry in Styria.

In March 2017, Waltz was elected a board member of the European Green Party at the Global Greens and European Greens Congress 2017 in Liverpool. In this role he was responsible for cooperation with Green Parties in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary and Albania, and supported and accompanied the establishment of possible Green Parties in Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

On November 10, 2017, Waitz took over the mandate from Ulrike Lunacek in the European Parliament . There he was a member of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development and negotiated the new funding guidelines 2021–2027 for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union.

His political focus is on agriculture and related issues such as food quality, food safety , animal welfare and combating climate change . Waitz attracted attention when he set down tree trunks infested with bark beetles in front of the country house in Grazer Herrengasse in 2016 and when he and the Styrian police stopped illegal animal transporters in January 2018.

In addition to environmental and agricultural policy, Waitz is also involved in peace policy, in particular he advocates a Europe-wide ban on nuclear weapons. Attention was drawn to a joint protest action in which Waitz supported MPs Tilly Metz from Luxembourg, Molly Scott Cato from Great Britain and Michèle Rivasi in unrolling a banner on the runway of the Kleine Brogel military airport in Belgium, highlighting the permanent presence of US nuclear warheads to draw attention in the middle of Europe.

After the 2019 European elections , Waitz could not take up his mandate directly, but had to wait until the British MPs left in February 2020 due to Brexit . In addition to the Agriculture and Petitions Committee as a deputy, Waitz is now also a member of Parliament's Foreign Policy and Security Policy Committee and a delegate in the Association Committees on Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo as a deputy.

Waitz was elected co-chair of the European Greens on November 10, 2019 together with Evelyne Huytebroeck by the Belgian Greens ( Ecolo , Groen ) with 98.3 percent of the vote.

Web links

Commons : Thomas Waitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Ortner: What will change in the EU Parliament with Brexit. Retrieved February 7, 2020 .
  2. ^ Austrian Waitz new Vice of the European Greens orf.at, November 10, 2019, accessed November 10, 2019.
  3. ↑ Salzburger Nachrichten: An organic farmer represents the Greens in the EU Parliament . January 16, 2018 ( sn.at [accessed January 17, 2018]).
  4. ↑ About Tom - Tom Waitz. Retrieved May 4, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Thomas Waitz. Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Thomas Waitz . In: My MPs . ( meineabhaben.at [accessed on January 17, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Thomas Waitz. Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
  8. ^ Swearing in by Thomas Waitz in the EU Parliament - steiermark.ORF.at. Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Thomas WAITZ | Home | MPs | European Parliament. Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
  10. ^ STANDARD Verlagsgesellschaft mbH: Member of the European Parliament: EU agricultural policy accelerates farm deaths . In: derStandard.at . ( derstandard.at [accessed on January 17, 2018]).
  11. ↑ https://www.oekonews.at/?mdoc_id=1158924
  12. ↑ https://kurier.at/politik/ausland/eu-klimagesetz-ist-fuer-thunberg-eine-kapitulation/400771443
  13. ↑ https://www.vol.at/waitz-wird-wegen-brexit-dritter-eu-abteilunger-der-gruenen/6514101
  14. ^ LK election: election campaign with bark beetle - steiermark.ORF.at. Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Thomas Waitz: Animal transport 2018 Waitz. January 9, 2018, accessed January 17, 2018 .
  16. ^ Hugo Huber: Member of the European Parliament Waitz released after arrest in Belgium. February 20, 2019, accessed May 4, 2020 .
  17. ^ Austrian Waitz new Vice of the European Greens orf.at, November 10, 2019, accessed November 10, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Waitz, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian organic farmer and politician (Greens), MEP
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna