Wolfgang Petritsch

Wolfgang Petritsch (2018)

Wolfgang Petritsch (2016)

Wolfgang Petritsch (born August 26, 1947 in Klagenfurt ) is an Austrian diplomat and politician ( SPÖ ). Petritsch was regarded as Austria's top diplomat and was, among other things, an internationally active diplomat, EU chief negotiator and special commissioner and, between 1999 and 2002, the UN's high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina .

Petritsch is considered a foreign policy expert with a focus on Southeast Europe.

In the course of his career, Wolfgang Petritsch was planned by the SPÖ as foreign minister and was also brought into play as a candidate for the federal presidential election and in 2019 as transitional minister.

Life

Origin and education

Wolfgang Petritsch is a member of the Slovene-speaking ethnic group of Carinthia and grew up as the son of landlords in Glainach . He studied history, German, political science and law at the University of Vienna , where he received his doctorate in 1972.

Petritsch is fluent in German, Slovenian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, English and French.

Career

Wolfgang Petritsch was secretary and press spokesman for Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky from 1977 to 1983 , about whom he published a biography in 2010 and another book in 2019.

Between 1984 and 1992 he served as Director of the Austrian Press and Information Service Office in the United States, as well as Minister Plenipotentiaire ( Ministre plénipotentiaire ) at Austria's Permanent Mission to the United Nations ( Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations New York ) in New York .

International top diplomat

During his time as the Austrian ambassador in Belgrade (1997 to 1999) Wolfgang Petritsch was appointed EU special envoy for Kosovo . As such, he was the EU chief negotiator in the 1999 peace negotiations in Rambouillet and Paris. As High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1999 to 2002), he led the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement .

Further diplomatic posts

Wolfgang Petritsch ran for the SPÖ in the National Council elections in 2002 and would have been designated as Foreign Minister in the event of an election victory . Even before the ballot, he was appointed Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva , where he remained until the beginning of 2008.

Between 2008 and 2014, Wolfgang Petritsch was Ambassador and Head of the Permanent Representation of Austria to the OECD in Paris . In 2013/14 he taught at Harvard University . On the part of the SPÖ, Petritsch was also brought into play as a candidate to succeed Heinz Fischer as Federal President.

He is currently President of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation in Vienna. In 2019, Wolfgang Petritsch was brought into play by the SPÖ as minister for the transitional government.

Awards

• In 2002 Wolfgang Petritsch received the Friedrich Torberg Medal from the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien .
• On February 23, 2007 he was awarded the European Human Rights Prize at the European Court of Human Rights .
• In 2013 the Austrian Art Minister Josef Ostermayer awarded him the Cross of Honor for Science and Art, 1st Class.
• In 2013 he received an honorary doctorate from the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt .
• Wolfgang Petritsch is an honorary citizen of his hometown Ferlach (Carinthia).

Publications (selection)

• 1999: Kosovo: Myths, Data, Facts = Kosova , together with Karl Kaser and Robert Pichler, Wieser-Verlag, Klagenfurt 1999, ISBN 978-3-85129-304-3
• 2008: The Kreisky principle: the focus is on people , together with Margaretha Kopeinig , Czernin-Verlag, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-7076-0277-7
• 2009: Destination Europe: from the gorges of the Balkans and the troubles of the plain. Essays - Speeches - Comments - Interviews - Documents, 2001-2009 , Wieser-Verlag, Klagenfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-85129-859-8
• 2010: The European opportunity: restart after the crisis , together with Margaretha Kopeinig, Verlag Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-218-00807-5
• 2010: Bruno Kreisky: the biography , Residenz-Verlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7017-3189-3
• 2018: Epoch change: our digital-authoritarian century , Christian Brandstätter Verlag, Vienna 2018, ISBN 978-3-7106-0268-9
• 2019: I am of the opinion ... - Bruno Kreisky - Proverbs and contradictions , with illustrations by Michael Pammesberger , Ueberreuter-Verlag, Vienna 2019, ISBN 978-3-8000-7722-9

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Petritsch  - Collection of Images

• Homepage of Wolfgang Petritsch
• Portrait of Wolfgang Petritsch
• Wolfgang Petritsch. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (Ed.)
• CV at the OECD
• Literature by and about Wolfgang Petritsch in the catalog of the German National Library
• "Securing the Peace: For a European Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina", open letter according to with Paddy Ashdown and Christian Schwarz-Schilling, October 18, 2009

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wiener Zeitung. First encounter with Kreisky: the later employee's disappointment
2. ^ Wiener Zeitung. Wolfgang Petritsch. "Radically turn away from old ideas"
3. ^ Carinthian diplomacy around the world ( Memento from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Article from August 21, 2011 in the Kleine Zeitung
4. ^ Wiener Zeitung. Wolfgang Petritsch. "Radically turn away from old ideas"
5. ^ Wiener Zeitung. Van der Bellen: experts as transitional minister

predecessor	Office	successor
Michael Weninger	Austrian Ambassador to Serbia 1997–1999	?

predecessor	Office	successor
Harald Kreid	Permanent representative of Austria to the United Nations in Geneva 2002–2008	Christian Strohal
Ulrich Stacher	Permanent representative of Austria to the OECD in Paris 2008–2013	Maria Elisabeth Stubits-Weidinger