Michael Häupl (born 14 September 1949) is an

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

politician. A member of the

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

, he served as mayor and governor of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

from 7 November 1994 until 24 May 2018.

Early life and education

Häupl was born in Altlengbach,

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

. He studied

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

and

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...

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 hi ...

and was an academic assistant at the

Vienna Natural History Museum The Natural History Museum Vienna (german: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the most important natural history museums worldwide. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museum ...

from 1975 to 1983.

Political career

He was the State Chairman of the

Socialist Students of Austria The Socialist Students of Austria (german: Verband Sozialistischer StudentInnen Österreichs, VSStÖ) is a socialist and social democratic student organization at Austrian universities. History The preliminary organization of the VSStÖ was fo ...

, the student organisation of the

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

from 1975 to 1978, a member of the Viennese Municipal Council from 1983 to 1988, and from 1988 until 1994, Executive City Councillor for

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

and

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

. Häupl followed

Helmut Zilk Helmut Zilk (9 June 1927, Vienna – 24 October 2008, Vienna) was an Austrian journalist and politician in the Austrian Social Democratic Party. He served as mayor of Vienna between 1984 and 1994. Biography Born in Vienna, Zilk was Mayor ...

in 1993 as a state party chairman of the SPÖ in Vienna and on 7 November 1994, he became the mayor of Vienna. Häupl has won three elections since his appointment as mayor; each of them has led to increased majorities for the SPÖ. In the 1996 City Council election, the SPÖ lost its overall control of the 100-seat chamber with 43 seats on 39.15% of the vote. 1996 also saw a strong

FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"A ...

, which won 29 seats (up from 21 in 1991), beating the

ÖVP 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 ...

into third place for the second time running. For the period 1996-2001 the SPÖ governed Vienna in a coalition with the ÖVP. In 2001 the SPÖ regained overall control with 52 seats on 46.91% of the vote; it improved on this in October 2005 with 55 seats on 49.09%. However, Häupl has also presided over a period of increased voter apathy, with turnout dropping from 68.46% in 1996 to 60.81% in 2005. Häupl is the Deputy Federal Party chairman of the SPÖ and was considered to be one of the most important internal supporters of the former chairman, Werner Faymann. On 14 December 2004 Häupl was elected unopposed to succeed

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

as President of the

Council of European Municipalities and Regions The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is the largest organisation of local and regional governments in Europe. Its members are 60 national associations of towns, municipalities and regions from 41 countries that are part of th ...

. Häupl was awarded the Czech

Order of the White Lion The Order of the White Lion ( cs, Řád Bílého lva) is the highest order of the Czech Republic. It continues a Czechoslovak order of the same name created in 1922 as an award for foreigners (Czechoslovakia had no civilian decoration for its ...

in October 2017 along with

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

and Borut Pahor.

References

External links

*
CityMayors profile
1949 births Living people Mayors of Vienna People from Sankt Pölten-Land District Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians University of Vienna alumni Recipients of the Order of the White Lion {{Austria-mayor-stub