Jörg Leichtfried (born 18 June 1967 in

Bruck an der Mur Bruck an der Mur is a city of some 13,500 people located in the district Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, in the Austrian state of Styria. It is located at the confluence of the Mur and Mürz Rivers. Its manufacturing includes metal products and paper. Br ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

) is an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

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of the

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who has been serving as a member of the National Council since the 2017 elections. He previously served as Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Christian Kern Christian Kern (; born 4 January 1966) is an Austrian businessman and former politician who served as Chancellor of Austria from 17 May 2016 to 18 December 2017 and chairman of the Social Democratic Party from 25 June 2016 to 25 September 2018. ...

from 2016 until 2017.

Education

* Studied jurisprudence (graduated 1994)

Career

* 1995-1999: Legal officer, Styrian Chamber of Labour * 1998-2004: Departmental head, citizens' advice service, Bruck and der Mur's

City council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

Political career

Early beginnings

* 1994-2000: Regional vice-chairman of the Styria Young Socialists * 1999: Austrian Parliament candidate, Styria Young Socialists * 2000-2002: Federal chairman of the Austrian Young Socialists * since 2000: Regional Party vice-chairman of the Styria SPÖ

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2015

Leichtfried was first elected a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) with the

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

, part of the

Socialist Group The Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (french: Groupe Socialiste, SOC) is a primarily social-democratic political grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was known as the Socialist Group prior to August 2017. The g ...

, in the 2004 European elections. During his time in parliament, he served on the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Committee on Transport and Tourism The Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair is the French MEP Karima Delli of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. Research service The Committee is directly supported by ...

. In this capacity, he was the Parliament's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

on the

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitorin ...

(2007) and on the cross-border admission of

heavy hauler A heavy hauler is a very large transporter for moving oversize loads too large for road travel without an escort and special permit. A heavy hauler typically consists of a Ballast Tractor and hydraulic modular trailer. Some trailers may have ...

s (2014), among other dossiers. In addition, Leichtfried was a substitute for the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Andean Community The Andean Community ( es, Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact un ...

and a substitute for the Delegation for relations with the countries of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. He was also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda.

Federal Minister of Transport, 2016–2017

In May 2016, incoming

appointed Leichtfried as Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology. Under his leadership, Austria announced plans in March 2017 to file a legal challenge at the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

against plans by Germany to introduce a road toll for foreign-registered cars using German highways.Kirsti Knolle, Francois Murphy, Michelle Martin and Paul Carrel (31 March 2017)
Austria to file legal challenge against German highway toll
''

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''.

References

External links

* * 1967 births Living people Social Democratic Party of Austria MEPs MEPs for Austria 2004–2009 MEPs for Austria 2009–2014 MEPs for Austria 2014–2019 Articles containing video clips Government ministers of Austria {{Austria-MEP-stub