Jörg Leichtfried (born 18 June 1967 in

Bruck an der Mur Bruck an der Mur () is a city of some 15,970 people located in the district Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, in the Austrian state of Styria. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Mur and Mürz. Its manufacturing includes metal products and paper. ...

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 ...

) is an

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

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

who has been serving as a member of the National Council since the

2017 elections Africa *2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017 *2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017 *2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017 *2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017 *2017 Republic of the Congo parliamentary electi ...

. Since 3 March 2025 he is the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior responsible for the Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service (DSN). 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 (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

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 at the

Faculty of Law of the University of Graz The Faculty of Law of the University of Graz (REWI Uni Graz) was established in 1778 as the third faculty of the University of Graz. Overview Its curricula include, besides the classical Diploma (Mag.iur.) and Doctoral Program in Law (Dr.iur.), t ...

(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, borough 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 Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) with the

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 ...

, part of the Socialist Group, in the 2004 European elections. During his time in parliament, he served on the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

Committee on Transport and Tourism A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. 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 Eur ...

on the

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

(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 a hydraulic modular trailer. Some trailers may ...

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 (, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating a customs union comprising the South American countries (Andean states) of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1 ...

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

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. 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), officially 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 Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

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
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''.

State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2025–

On 3 March 2025 Leichtfried was appointed as State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior. The Federal Minister of the Interior,

Gerhard Karner Gerhard Karner (born 13 November 1967) is an Austrian politician currently serving as minister of the interior. From 2003, Karner was a member of the Lower Austrian state legislature. From 2003 to 2015, he was managing director of the People's Pa ...

, assigned him responsibility for the Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service (DSN).

References

External links

* * 1967 births Articles containing video clips Government ministers of Austria Living people Members of the 26th National Council (Austria) Members of the 27th National Council (Austria) Members of the 28th National Council (Austria) MEPs for Austria 2004–2009 MEPs for Austria 2009–2014 MEPs for Austria 2014–2019 Social Democratic Party of Austria MEPs {{Austria-MEP-stub