Walter Schwimmer

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Walter Schwimmer

Walter Schwimmer (born June 16, 1942 in Vienna ) is an Austrian politician . The lawyer had been a member of the Austrian National Council since 1971 and General Secretary of the Council of Europe from 1999 to 2004 .

Life

Walter Schwimmer is the son of a baker and a saleswoman. He attended secondary school and studied law at the University of Vienna . There he received his doctorate in 1964 and became a legal advisor to the trade union of private employees at the ÖGB (Austrian Trade Union Federation). In 1971 he changed first as head of the social affairs and later of the political committee to the ÖAAB (Austrian workers and salaried employees). In 1979 he became head of the premiums department of the Vienna Regional Health Insurance Fund . From 1984 to 1999 he was its general manager.

Since his student days a member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), he was elected to the National Council in 1971 . Until 1999, Schwimmer was a member of the National Council for eight consecutive legislative periods. He was deputy chairman of the ÖVP parliamentary group, chairman of the committees for health, justice and buildings, and deputy chairman of the committee for social affairs. Schwimmer was Vice President from 1977 to 1981 and President of the Austrian-Israeli Society from 1982 to 1999.

Schwimmer had been a member of the Austrian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 1991 , where he became chairman of the Group of the European People's Party Christian Democrats , vice-chairman of the assembly, deputy chairman of the Legal and Human Rights Committee, chairman of the subcommittee on international economic relations and rapporteur for accession of Slovakia to the euro Europe.

In June 1999 the Parliamentary Assembly elected him to succeed Daniel Tarschys from Sweden as Secretary General of the Council of Europe. In the regular election of the General Secretary on June 22, 2004, swimmer was defeated by the British Terry Davis . He received only 91 votes in the Parliamentary Assembly, Davis received 157. Schwimmer resigned from office on September 1, 2004.

Schwimmer works as a consultant for international relations and European issues for both governments and companies. He volunteers for the dialogue of cultures and is u. a. Secretary General of the Maison de la Méditerranée-Fondazione Mediterraneo in Naples, Chairman of the International Coordinating Committee of the World Public Forum-Dialogue of Civilizations (Vienna), co-founder (with Vladimir Iwanowitsch Jakunin ) and member of the board of the Berlin-based think tank Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute and President of the European Democracy Forum (Strasbourg).

Walter Schwimmer is in his second marriage (to Martina Pucher-Schwimmer, former Deputy District Chairman (ÖVP) in Vienna - Margareten) and has two sons from his first marriage.

honors and awards

Among other things, Schwimmer was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold on Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria (2005), the Grand Cross of the Star of Romania , the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle (Águila Azteca) and high Italian, San-Marine and Lithuanian orders. He is a knight of the French Legion of Honor .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Head of the DOC Research Institute (accessed April 9, 2017)
  2. ↑ Is there any information about this organization?
  3. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Swimmer, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician (ÖVP), member of the National Council, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna