Erhard Busek

Erhard Busek (born March 25 1941 in Vienna, Austria) is a politician from the christian-conservative People's Party (ÖVP). He is a roman catholic from the green-liberal political spectrum.

Busek was chief of the party and Austrian Vice-Chancellor in the coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Austria with the People's Party between 1991-1995 and was an important reformer of the Austrian Universities.

Career Overview

He started his professional career as legal advisor to the association of parliamentarians of the Austrian People's Party. He served in a number of administrative positions including:

• Secretary-General of the Austrian Federation for Trade and Commerce
• Secretary-General of the Austrian People's Party,
• Deputy-Mayor of Vienna,
• Minister of Science and Research,
• Minister of Education, and, most recently,
• Vice Chancellor.

Current positions

He is currently:

• Editor of a monthly newspaper Wiener Journal,
• Visiting Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Studies at Duke University,
• Chairman of the Institute for the Danube and Central Europe,
• Co-Chair of the Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central and Eastern Europe,
• Member of the Committee on Education in the European Union, and
• Co-ordinator of the Southeast European Co-operative Initiative (SECI), a project created in 1996 to enhance stability in Southeastern Europe through the development of economic and environmental co-operation.
• since 01.01.2002, he is Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
• in 2004, he also became Rector of the Technical College in Salzburg, Austria.

Biography

Erhard Busek studied law at University.

Between 1964-1972 he was a parliament secretary (German: Klubsekretär) of the ÖVP, and up to 1976 a General Secretary of its Economics department (Wirtschaftsbund).

He became chair of the Viennese ÖVP in 1976 because of his "green image", and vice-mayor of Vienna from 1978 to 1987.

In 1991, he succeeded Josef Riegler as an Vice-Chancellor of Austria and as the federal chair of the ÖVP. He led his party into the 1994 elections.

After retiring in 1995, Busek has been the director of the "Institute of Danube countries" (10 states) and of the Southeast European Cooperative.
He founded the Pentagonale cultural and scientific cooperative together with Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland which is enlarged now to the CEI (16 countries in Central & Eastern Europe).

From 2000-2001 Busek was government commissioner of the eastern EU enlargement and since January 1st 2002, he is Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.

He has authored several books about Central Europe and economic issues (see the list below).

Books

• Busek et al., 1975: Auf dem Weg zur qualitativen Marktwirtschaft.
• Busek (editor), 1983: Mut zum aufrechten Gang.
• E.Brix & E.Busek, 1986: Projekt Mitteleuropa (project Central Europe).
• Rudolf Bretschneider (ed.) & E.Busek, 1994: Mensch in Wort. Reden und Aufsätze.
• Busek, 1997: Eine Spurensicherung
• Busek, 1999: Österreich und der Balkan.
• E.Welzig (ed.), 1992: Erhard Busek – Ein Porträt.

external links

• detailed biography
• Busek's page at the site of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe