Hermann Schützenhöfer
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Hermann Schützenhöfer (; born 29 February 1952) is an Austrian politician who served as the governor of
Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
from 2015 until 2022 and chairman of the Styrian People's Party (StVP/ÖVP) from 2006 until 2022.


Personal life

Schützenhöfer grew up in Edlitz in Lower Austria. In 1966, Schützenhöfer's family moved back to Kirchbach in Styria, where Schützenhöfer completed compulsory school with the polytechnical year. He became an apprentice in a grocery store and wrote articles as a local journalist for the '' Kleine Zeitung'', the ''Sonntagspost'' and the Styrian youth magazine ''Horizont'' (= "Horizon" - a media organ of the Junge Volkspartei). He is married to Marianne, and has two grown-up children.


Political activities

Schützenhöfer then entered politics in 1970 and became director of the Styrian Young People's Party (JVP) and in 1976 chairman of JVP Styria. In 1978 he acted as director of the ÖAAB (= Workers Union of the People's Party) in Styria. In 2006 he succeeded former governor Waltraud Klasnic as party leader and acted as vice governor. After the Styrian State elections in 2010, Hermann Schützenhöfer and governor Franz Voves of the SPÖ formed the as called "reform partnership coalition" (Reformpartnerschaft). Schützenhöfer again took over the office of the First Deputy Governor in October. There he was also responsible for the areas of personnel agendas, mayors, tourism, folk culture, provincial- and community development.


Governor of Styria

In June 2015 Schützenhöfer finally became Styrian governor – even though the STVP again had fallen behind the Socialist Party
SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...
by view votes. On 24 November 2019, the ''People's Party'' won the Styrian elections with 36.05%; a month later ''Schützenhöfer'' again formed a coalition with the ''SPÖ''. Schützenhöfers most ambitious project was to reshape the structure administration within Styria ("Gemeindestrukturreform") which significantly reduced the numbers of communities and districts. This reform gained much approval but also set off a major controversy. He played a significant role in the process of renewing 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 ...
which also led to the party leadership of Sebastian Kurz.


Honors

* 2016: Senator of Honor at Montanuniversität Leoben * 2017: Papal
Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of the five Papal order of knighthood, orders of knighthood of th ...
* 2017: Mérite Européen * 2017: Senator of Honor at Medizinischen Universität Graz


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schutzenhofer, Hermann 1952 births Living people Austrian People's Party politicians Governors of Styria