
Alois Mock 1989, Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Foreign minister 1987-95
'Alois Mock' (born
June 10,
1934) is a politician and member of the Christian-conservative
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). He was
Vice Chancellor of Austria from 1987 to 1989. As
foreign minister he helped take Austria into the
European Union.
Born in Euratsfeld,
Lower Austria, Mock went on to study
law at the
University of Vienna and later
international law in
Bologna and
Brussels. In Vienna, he became a member of K.A.V. Norica Wien, a Roman Catholic student fraternity, which is a member of the
Cartellverband.
From 1961 to 1966 Alois Mock advised the
Bundeskanzler Josef Klaus on
European Economic Community and
EFTA policy and for the
OECD in Paris. In 1966 he became Klaus' cabinet secretary and from 1969-1970 was the youngest education
minister Austria had ever had.
After the
Nationalrat elections of 1971 - where the
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) under
Bruno Kreisky won a majority - he became a member of parliament and
mayor of Euratsfeld. From 1971 to 1978, "Lois" chaired the ÖAAB, the most important grouping of the ÖVP. From 1978 to 1987 he was chairman of the parliamentary party and from 1979 was also federal party chairman. He was later to be succeeded by
Josef Riegler,
Erhard Busek and
Wolfgang Schüssel.
In
1979, Mock became the
President of the
European Democratic Union (EDU), and from 1983 to 1987 also of the international Christian democratic
International Democratic Union (IDU).
At the
1983 elections the ÖVP got almost the same percentage as Kreisky's SPÖ, who did not want to continue without an absolute majority and therefore retired.
Following the
1986 elections, from 1987 to 1989 Alois Mock was Austrian Vice Chancellor in the government of
Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ). He held the position of
foreign minister from 1987 to 1995, leading Austria into the
European Union. He became one of Austria's most popular politicians.
In June 1989, in the area of Odenburg, he cut the wire of the
Iron Curtain at the fortified border with
Communist neighbour Hungary, together with his Hungarian counterpart
Gyula Horn. During the following months thousands of
East German citizens could therefore emigrate to Austria and
West Germany. This marked the beginning of the fall of Communism.
Together with
Hans-Dietrich Genscher of
Germany he decided to acknowledge the independence of
Slovenia and
Croatia, but Europe nevertheless could not prevent the
Yugoslavian wars. In November 1989 Alois Mock was one of the founders of the Central European cooperative called
Pentagonale, which later grew from 5 countries to the 16 of the
CEI (Central European Initiative).
In 1999 he retired as a member of parliament because of
Parkinson's disease. Nevertheless he is still interested in Austrian politics, especially those aspects which concern the Austria's Eastern neighbours.
External links
★
The Global Panel Foundation
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Josef Taus'
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ÖVP Party Chairman'
1979–1989
| width="30%" align="center" rowspan=2| '
Josef Riegler'
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| width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by:
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Norbert Steger'
| width="40%" align="center" | '
Vice Chancellor of Austria'
1987–1989
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| width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by:
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Peter Jankowitsch'
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Foreign Minister of Austria'
1987–1995
| width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:
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Wolfgang Schüssel'
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