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Gernot Blümel (born 24 October 1981) is an Austrian politician of the
Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party ( , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since January 2025, the party has been led by Christian Stocker (as an acting leader). It is currently the second-largest p ...
(ÖVP). He served as Austria's
finance minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...
from 2020 to 2021, having announced his resignation shortly after Alexander Schallenberg's resignation on 2 December 2021. Since 2015, he has been the chairman of the
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
branch of the ÖVP. Prior, he was Chancellery minister for European Affairs, Art, Culture, and Media from 2017 to 2019; he was also General Secretary of the ÖVP from 2013 to 2015.


Education and personal life

Blümel attended elementary school in his home town of Moosbrunn,
Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...
. He attended the Don Bosco Salesian high school in Unterwaltersdorf, where he graduated in 2000. After completing military service in the Austrian Armed Forces, he studied
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
at the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
and the University of Burgundy in
Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
, and graduated in 2009 with a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
. He then studied at the Executive Academy of the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and graduated with a
Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
degree. Blümel is a member of the
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
students' union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...
KaV Norica Vienna. Since 2014 he has been in a relationship with journalist, presenter, and spokeswoman Clivia Treidl. On 2 March 2020, the couple became parents of a daughter and in September 2021 of a son.


Political career

Blümel began his political career in the ÖVP's youth branch, the Young People's Party (JVP). As its international secretary, he has been a member of the national board since 2006. From 2006 to 2008 Blümel was active in the National Council, first as a parliamentary employee and then in the office of the Second President of the National Council
Michael Spindelegger Michael Spindelegger (; born 21 December 1959) is an Austrian politician. He served in the cabinet of Chancellor Werner Faymann as Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, foreign minister of Austria from 2008 to 2013 and as Fina ...
of the ÖVP. From 2009, Blümel was a consultant for the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. He was also Vice President of the
Youth of the European People's Party Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP) is an umbrella organization of European political youth organisations and is the official youth wing of the European People's Party. YEPP brings together 64 centre-right youth political organisations fr ...
(YEPP) from 2008 to 2010. In June 2011, Blümel was entrusted with the tasks of "Council of Ministers coordination and government work" in the cabinet of then-Vice Chancellor Spindelegger.


General-Secretary of the ÖVP

On 6 December 2013, the federal party executive of the ÖVP appointed Blümel as General Secretary. After leader Michael Spindelegger's resignation in September 2014, Blümel was confirmed as General Secretary by new chairman-designate Reinhold Mitterlehner at the meeting of the federal party executive. In the 2014 European elections, Blümel was campaign manager for the ÖVP. During his time as General Secretary, Blümel was also media spokesman in the ÖVP parliamentary group. He presented the media package "More Programs for Austria" on 31 July 2014, seeking to relax restrictions and strengthen competition within Austrian media. He also sought to loosen restrictions on ''
Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF ; , ) is the national public broadcaster of Austria. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Austria was the last country in ...
'', the public broadcaster, and encourage more high-quality domestically-produced media in Austria. He also called for an ancillary copyright to protect journalistic content and intellectual property on the internet; to this end, he prioritized a European solution over a national one. In his capacity as General Secretary, Blümel initiated a program known as "Evolution People's Party" to further develop the party's program. According to the ÖVP, this gave party members and non-members alike the opportunity to contribute their ideas and suggestions for a new party program. In spring 2015, at the party congress on the 70th anniversary of the ÖVP's foundation, a new basic program was adopted. After the ÖVP's abysmal result in the 2015 Viennese state election, Blümel replaced Manfred Juraczka as regional party chairman of the party's branch there. He thus left office as General Secretary and was succeeded by Peter McDonald.


ÖVP leader in Vienna

On 12 October 2015, Blümel was appointed to succeed Manfred Juraczka, who resigned as regional party chairman of the Vienna ÖVP on the evening of the election. The ÖVP won just 9.2% of votes, its worst ever result in a state election. Blümel served as non-executive city councillor in the Häupl VI cabinet; Markus Wölbitsch succeeded him in this position on 25 January 2018. In December 2018, Blümel was announced as the ÖVP's lead candidate for the October 2020 state election. The ÖVP won 20.4% in the election, more than twice as high as its 2015 result, and became the second largest party for the first time since the 2005 election.


Federal politics

Blümel was one of the ÖVP's five-member steering committee for government formation after the 2017 federal election, alongside leader Sebastian Kurz, Elisabeth Köstinger, Stefan Steiner, and Bettina Glatz-Kremsner. The ÖVP ultimately came to a coalition agreement with the
Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...
(FPÖ). Blümel was initially appointed as Minister for Art, Culture, the Constitution, and the Media in the first Kurz government, but after reorganisation of ministries, less than a month later he was re-appointed as Chancellery minister for European Affairs, Art, Culture, and Media. In this capacity, Blümel was a proponent of the upload filters provided for in Draft Article 13 of the European Union copyright reform. Blümel also served as government coordinator, the main conduit for policy discussions between the ruling parties. After the defeat of the first Kurz government, Blümel retained his position in the acting government of Hartwig Löger, and left office on 3 June 2019. Blümel was elected to the National Council in the 2019 federal election. He resigned on 7 January 2020 when he was appointed finance minister in the second Kurz government. His seat in the National Council was taken over by Romana Deckbacher. Blümel stepped down as finance minister on 6 December 2021.


Investigations found no basis for suspected bribery

On 11 February 2021 Blümel's apartment in Vienna was searched by the Austrian public prosecutor. The public prosecutor's office suspected that Blümel and Austrian gambling company Novomatic might be involved in bribery. Blümel said that Novomatic hadn't donated any funds to ÖVP since Blümel became chairman of the Viennese ÖVP and Kurz became chairman of the ÖVP and refused to step down at the time. In September 2023, following a thorough investigation, no evidence of bribery was found and the matter was considered closed.


Other activities


European Union organizations

*
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...
(EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2020) *
European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...
(ESM), Member of the Board of Governors (since 2020)


International organizations

*
Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...
(ADB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2020–2021) *
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank and international financial institution that aims to collectively improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. It is the world's second largest multi-lateral d ...
(AIIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2020–2021) *
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...
(EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2020–2021) * IDB Invest, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2020–2021) *
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees. These guarantees help investors protect foreign direct investments against ...
(MIGA),
World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group ...
, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2020–2021) *
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2020–2021)


Non-profit organizations

* National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020)Board of Trustees
National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism.


References


Sources

* https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/bundesminister-gernot-bluemel * https://web.archive.org/web/20131211225631/http://youthepp.eu/sites/default/files/library/YEPP_YB_2010_v6%2528LR%2529%2B%25284%2529.pdf * https://derstandard.at/2000070950432/Kneissl-und-Bluemel-wollen-beide-Weisungshoheit-nach-Bruessel-haben


External links


Gernot Blümel on the Ministry of Finance's web site
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Blumel, Gernot 1981 births Living people Austrian People's Party politicians Culture ministers of Austria Ministers of finance of Austria Members of the 27th National Council (Austria)