Eric Frey (born 1963, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for a work such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists who ...

and

political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...

. He works as an editor for the Austrian newspaper ''

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first edition on 19 October 1988. German media company Axel Springe ...

'' and is correspondent for the London business paper ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

''.

Life

Eric Frey was born in 1963 in Vienna as the son of Jewish parents who escaped

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. In 1981, he moved to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

and attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

where he studied Public Affairs. He began his career as a journalist in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. There, he worked as a reporter for the AP-Dow Jones News Service until 1990. Since 1991, he has been working for the Viennese newspaper ''Der Standard'' and since 1996 as the departmental manager for foreign affairs and economy. He wrote his doctoral thesis in 2003/2004

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, where he was a visiting professor from 2001 until 2002 at the ''Marshall Plan Chair for Austrian Studies'' of the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...

. The thesis was on history and specifically the trade politics of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. Frey has published several books, most of which deal with contemporary historical topics. Frey is the president of Or Chadasch, the

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

synagogue in Vienna founded by his parents. His daughter is the leftist politician and Yiddishist musician Isabel Frey.

Political positions

Ukraine crisis

In an

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...

in the newspaper ''

'' of August 2014, he wrote on the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

that negotiations with Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

would be useless, because he would lie to any discussion partner. Instead somehow it would have to be made clear that Putin miscalculated. That would only be possible with further sanctions and if necessary, the discontinuation of all business relations with Moscow, as well as with direct military help for Kiev in form of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, stationing of NATO troops in the Ukraine and US lead air raids against separatists and Russian lines of communication.

Controversy

On 24 November 2014, Frey was part of a televised discussion at the Austrian political talk show ''Pulse 4 News "Pro and Contra"'' on the

. Frey called another guest, German stock trader Dirk Müller, a Russian propagandist based on his description of American interests in the Ukraine. He also described

Johannes Voggenhuber Johannes Voggenhuber (born 5 June 1950) is an Austrian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Austrian Green Party, which is part of the European Greens. He was vice president of the Parliament's Constitutional Aff ...

of the Austrian Green party as inhumane towards the Ukrainian people. He was heavily criticized in his blog at the ''

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

'' by many readers for his, as seen by them, one sided description of the Ukrainian conflict and his conduct during the televised discussion.Eric Frey
''Warum die USA wenige Interessen in der Ukraine haben''

, 25. November 2014.(Comment section of the Blog).

References

Bibliography

External links

Books of Eric Frey (German)

Frey author page
at

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Eric 1963 births 20th-century Austrian Jews 21st-century Austrian Jews Living people Austrian journalists Austrian political scientists Austrian public relations people Austrian Ashkenazi Jews Austrian Reform Jews Jewish Austrian writers Princeton University alumni Writers from Vienna