Wolfgang Schüssel

Wolfgang Schüssel (1945- ), Austrian politician, Federal Chancellor of Austria (2000-2007). Born in Vienna, he studied law at the University of Vienna, achieving his doctorate in 1968. He then joined the Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP; Austrian People’s Party), serving as secretary to the parliamentary party, before becoming secretary-general of the Austrian Business Federation. He was appointed to the Cabinet of Franz Vranitzky in 1989, serving as minister for economic affairs in a coalition made up of the ÖVP and Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ; Austrian Social Democratic Party). On becoming leader of the ÖVP in 1995 he became vice-chancellor and minister for foreign affairs, a position he maintained in the Cabinet of Viktor Klima.

In the election of October 1999 the ÖVP finished third with 26 per cent of the vote, leading the party to reject its coalition with Klima’s Social Democratic Party. Klima resigned in January 2000 after failing to form a minority government and Schüssel negotiated a coalition government with the second-placed Freedom Party of Jörg Haider that was sworn into government, despite reservations, by President Thomas Klestil in February. The coalition with the extreme right Freedom Party brought international condemnation and, despite assurances from Schüssel that he would lead a tolerant and pro-European government, led to the withdrawal of the Israeli ambassador and the imposition of political sanctions by the European Union. These were finally lifted in September 2000.

The relationship between the coalition partners remained uneasy however. The focus of discontent became a Soviet-designed Czech nuclear power plant at Temelin, close to the Austrian border, which opened in October. Faced with mass environmental protests that blocked the border, Schüssel initially threatened to veto Czech membership of the EU if he did not receive assurances of the plant's safety, which were finally agreed in December. Faced with disappointing results in local elections during 2001, the Freedom Party launched a petition in January 2002 calling for the EU enlargement to be vetoed until the plant was closed—it received 900,000 signatures. Schüssel dismissed the petition but the Freedom Party decided not to trigger early elections. However, internal disputes within the Freedom Party led Schüssel to withdraw the ÖVP from the coalition in September. The resulting legislative elections held in November saw the ÖVP increase its share of the vote by 17 per cent, close to achieving an outright parliamentary majority. The success was credited to Schüssel’s strategy of shifting the party to the right and adopting some of the Freedom Party’s policies, so attracting much of its support. After several months of fruitless coalition negotiations with the other parties, Schüssel agreed a new coalition with the Freedom Party in February 2003.

Schüssel’s new government introduced a cut in corporation tax, a measure aimed at stimulating growth in the Austrian economy. During Austria’s term as holder of the presidency of the council of the European Union, in the first half of 2006, Schüssel argued for the introduction of a specific, Europe-wide tax to fund the organization. He suggested that this would help EU leaders avoid the complex disputes that often dogged budget negotiations. Schüssel also made clear his scepticism about the prospects of Turkey becoming a full member of the EU. In legislative elections held in October 2006, the ÖVP was beaten into second place by the SPÖ. The two parties worked out an agreement to form a coalition government in January 2007, according to which Schüssel resigned as chancellor, to be replaced by the SPÖ leader Alfred Gusenbauer.