Viktor Klima (born 4 June 1947) is an Austrian
Social Democrat
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and businessman. He was
chancellor of Austria
The chancellor of the Republic of Austria () is the head of government of the Republic of Austria. The position corresponds to that of Prime Minister in several other parliamentary democracies.
Current officeholder is Karl Nehammer of the Aus ...
from 1997 to 2000.
Early career
Born in
Schwechat
Schwechat () is a town southeast of Vienna known for the Vienna International Airport and Schwechater beer. The city is home to the refineries of the Austrian national oil company OMV.
Geography
Schwechat is named after the river Schwechat, whi ...
,
Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
, Klima started working for the then state-owned
OMV
OMV (formerly abbreviation for Österreichische Mineralölverwaltung Aktiengesellschaft ('' en, Austrian Mineral Oil Administration Stock Company'')) is an Austrian multinational integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company which is headquart ...
oil company in 1969 and remained with the company up to the beginning of his political career in 1992, in his later years serving as a member of their management board.
Minister
Although Klima was then unknown to the majority of Austrians, in 1992 Chancellor
Franz Vranitzky
Franz Vranitzky (; born 4 October 1937) is an Austrian politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), he was Chancellor of Austria from 1986 to 1997.
Early life and career
As the son of a foundryman, Vranitzky was born in ...
made him Minister of Transportation and Nationalised Industry, a position Klima held till 1996, when he became
Finance Minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
for a year.
Chancellor of Austria
In 1997, upon Vranitzky's resignation, Klima was elected chairman of the Social Democratic party and was sworn in as Chancellor of Austria, having renewed the grand coalition between his own party (
Social Democratic Party of Austria
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 ...
, SPÖ) and the
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), with
Wolfgang Schüssel
Wolfgang Schüssel (; born 7 June 1945) is an Austrian People's Party politician. He was Chancellor of Austria for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognised as a rare example of an active reformer in conte ...
serving as his vice chancellor.
Influenced by the "
Third Way
The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from a ...
" strategy of other European leaders such as
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
and
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...
, under Klima's chairmanship the Social Democrats played down their allegiance to
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and thus to their own political roots and very clearly continued their move from the political left towards the centre, frequently using
spin doctor
In public relations and politics, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through knowingly
providing a biased interpretation of an event or campaigning to influence public opinion about some organization or public figure. While traditional publ ...
s and embracing
populism
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
as a political strategy.
For example, further
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
s took place, and several public services that had been subsumed under the policies of the
welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...
were tentatively reduced. As a consequence, a high percentage of the party's traditional
working-class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
constituency, dissatisfied with Klima and his party, redirected their support to
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008)
was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of ...
's populist far-right
Freedom Party (FPÖ). However, just as his predecessor Vranitzky, Klima repeatedly and publicly announced that under no circumstances was he prepared to enter into a coalition with Haider's party.
Following the
elections of October 1999, in which the Social Democrats sustained heavy losses, Viktor Klima stepped down as the chairman of his party and was succeeded in this capacity by
Alfred Gusenbauer. As chancellor he was succeeded by
Wolfgang Schüssel
Wolfgang Schüssel (; born 7 June 1945) is an Austrian People's Party politician. He was Chancellor of Austria for two consecutive terms from February 2000 to January 2007. While being recognised as a rare example of an active reformer in conte ...
from the Austrian People's Party, who formed a coalition government with the Freedom Party in February 2000.
Klima and his party heavily resented the fact that they were removed from rulership. While negotiations to form a new government on the basis of the October 1999 elections were ongoing, Klima "urged fellow EU leaders to help influence the coalition bargaining,
EU leaders urged to keep Haider out. The Guardian, January 29, 2000
Archived
/ref>" an unprecedented call for foreign interference in the political affairs of the sovereign Austrian state whose acting chancellor he still was at the time of this statement. While this failed to influence the outcome of the coalition talks, it led directly to the so-called "sanctions" against Austria, which had no basis whatsoever in the EU charter.
Business career
A few weeks later, with the help of his friend Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...
, Klima took up a senior management position with Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
in Argentina at a time when the country was in a deep economic crisis. Klima became General Manager of Volkswagen's entire South American operations in mid-2006, and was under contract until 2011. Klima's background in politics as well as in economy predestines him for networking, a capability he has continued to cultivate on the highest level, such as with Argentina's former president, Néstor Kirchner
Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
and his predecessor, Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentine Peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President and Governor of Buenos Aires in the 1990s.
Bor ...
. Klima retired in 2011 and lives on a cattle farm near Buenos Aires.
References
* "Austria." Britannica Book of the Year, 2001. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
'', 2010. Web. 22 January 2010
* "Klima, Viktor (1947-)." ''Encyclopedia of World Biography''. Thomson Gale, 1998
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klima, Viktor
1947 births
Living people
20th-century Chancellors of Austria
Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians
Austrian people of Czech descent
Chancellors of Austria
Finance Ministers of Austria
People from Schwechat