Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Austria
Professional career:
1988-1989 Assistant to the Director of the Austrian Farmers’ Federation
1989-1997 Cabinet member of the Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry Franz Fischler and Wilhelm Molterer
1993-1994 Member of the expert negotiating group in the negotiating team for Austria’s accession to the European Union
1995-2002 Head of the Division responsible for EU coordination in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Austrian representative in the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) at the EU Council
1998 Chairman of the SCA during the second half year of the first Austrian EU Council Presidency
1998-2002 Deputy Head of Department at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (as from 2000 incl. the fields of environment and water management), in charge of international and EU affairs
2002-2007 Head of the Department of Agriculture and Nutrition in the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (“Ministry of Life”)
From 2007 Director at the General Secretariat of the EU Council (first for Agriculture and Rural Development, later for Communication, Transparency)
In 2013 he was elected Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions, but did not take up this function, instead becoming Federal Minister and heading Austria’s agriculture, forestry, environment and water management.
Political career:
From 16 December 2013 Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management
Education: Studies of Agricultural Economics at the Vienna University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences