Benita Ferrero-Waldner (born 5 September 1948) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n diplomat and politician, and a member of the conservative

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...

(ÖVP). Ferrero-Waldner served as

Foreign Minister of Austria This article lists the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Austria, from 30 October 1918 up to today. During the time of the ''Anschluss'' to Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945, Austria had no government in its own right. The current Austrian Foreign Mini ...

2000–2004 and was the candidate of the Austrian People's Party in the

2004 Austrian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Austria on 25 April 2004. While the post of President of Austria is a largely ceremonial one, presidential elections are conducted on a party basis and are seen as a test of the relative standing of the majo ...

, which she narrowly lost with 47.6% of the votes. She served as the

European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy The European Commissioner for External Relations was a member of the European Commission with responsibility over the Commissions external representation in the world and the European Union's (EU) Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The responsibility ...

from 2004 to 2009, and as the European Commissioner for Trade and European Neighbourhood Policy from 2009 to 2010.

Early life and education

Born in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, Waldner took her

matura or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

exams in 1966 and then studied law, receiving a doctorate from the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university A public university or public college is a univ ...

in 1970.

Career

Until 1983 Waldner worked in the private sector. Only in 1984 did she enter the diplomatic service. One of her most influential positions was ''Chef de protocole'' for

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

Boutros-Ghali at the UN in New York City. From 1995 until 2000 Ferrero-Waldner served as Under-Secretary of State in two governments led by

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

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 ...

and

Viktor Klima Viktor Klima (born 4 June 1947) is an Austrian Social Democrat politician and businessman. He was chancellor of Austria from 1997 to 2000. Early career Born in Schwechat, Lower Austria, Klima started working for the then state-owned OMV oil com ...

. When

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 ...

became

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 ...

early in 2000 he made Ferrero-Waldner his Minister for Foreign Affairs, a position she held until October 2004, when she was succeeded by

Ursula Plassnik Ursula Plassnik (born 23 May 1956) is an Austrian diplomat and politician. She was Foreign Minister of Austria between October 2004 and December 2008. She has served as the Austrian ambassador to Switzerland from 2016 to 2021. Early life and ca ...

. In January 2004 it was announced that Ferrero-Waldner would run for

president of Austria The president of Austria (german: Bundespräsident der Republik Österreich) is the head of state of the Republic of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the Constitution, in practice the president is largely a ceremonial ...

to succeed

Thomas Klestil Thomas Klestil (; 4 November 1932 – 6 July 2004) was an Austrian diplomat and politician who served as President of Austria from 1992 to his death in 2004. He was elected in 1992 and re-elected into office in 1998. Biography until 1992 Born ...

in July 2004. Her candidature was supported by the

; her only opponent was

Heinz Fischer Heinz Fischer GColIH OMRI RSerafO GCollSE (; born 9 October 1938) is a former Austrian politician. He took office as President of Austria on 8 July 2004 and was re-elected for a second and last term on 25 April 2010, leaving office on 8 July 2 ...

. However, she lost the election on 25 April.

Member of the European Commission, 2004–2010

In late July 2004 Ferrero-Waldner was nominated the successor of

Franz Fischler Franz Fischler (born 23 September 1946) is an Austrian politician from the Christianity, Christian-Conservatism, conservative Austrian People's Party, People's Party (ÖVP). He was the European Union's Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Developm ...

as Austria's

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

er. She took office on 22 November. Her portfolio was Foreign Affairs and European Neighbourhood Policy. As the EU's External Affairs Commissioner, Ferrero-Waldner is credited with being the key diplomat in the 24 July 2007 release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor imprisoned by Libya. They had been held more than 8 years on charges of purposefully infecting children with HIV, and have continued to profess their innocence. The commissioner made many trips to Libya and met with the prisoners regularly. She also worked to improve conditions for children infected with HIV/Aids.

Life after politics

In September 2009 Ferrero-Waldner ran for the post of UNESCO Director-General but lost to the Bulgarian candidate

Irina Bokova Irina Georgieva Bokova ( bg, Ирина Георгиева Бокова; born 12 July 1952) is a Bulgarian politician and the former Director-General of UNESCO (2009–2017). During her political and diplomatic career in Bulgaria, she served, a ...

. Since leaving politics, she has held a variety of paid and unpaid positions, including the following: *

Munich Re Munich Re Group or Munich Reinsurance Company (german: Münchener Rück; Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft) is a German multinational insurance company based in Munich, Germany. It is one of the world's leading reinsurers. ERGO, a Muni ...

, member of the supervisory board (since 2010) * United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, President of the Board of Trustees (2017–2020) * European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), Member of the Advisory Council * Graduate School for Global and International Studies,

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...

, Member of the Advisory Board In February 2020, Ferrero-Waldner joined around fifty former European prime ministers and foreign ministers in signing an open letter published by British newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' to condemn

U.S. president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

's Middle East peace plan, saying it would create an

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

-like situation in occupied Palestinian territory.Grave concern about US plan to resolve Israel-Palestine conflict
''

'', 27 February 2020.

Personal life

From 1974 until 1983 Waldner was married to Wolfgang Sterr, a

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n high school teacher. However, their marriage ended in divorce. In 1993 Waldner married Francisco Ferrero Campos, a lecturer in Spanish and

Latin American literature Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. After her previous marriage had finally been

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...

Ferrero-Waldner married her husband again in church in December 2003. The couple does not have any children.

References

External links

*November 2004 – November 200
Member of the European Commission in charge of External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy
*November 2009 – February 201

* ttp://www.maislinger.net/liste_english/ Born between Salzburg and Braunau am Inn , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrero-Waldner, Benita 1948 births Living people Politicians from Salzburg Austrian women diplomats Austrian European Commissioners Austrian Roman Catholics Women government ministers of Austria Foreign ministers of Austria Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Candidates for President of Austria University of Salzburg alumni Female foreign ministers Women European Commissioners European Commissioners 2004–2009 European Commissioners 2009–2014