Alois Mock (; 10 June 1934 – 1 June 2017) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n politician and member of 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 ...

(ÖVP). He was Vice Chancellor of Austria from 1987 to 1989. As

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, he helped take Austria into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Life

Born in Euratsfeld,

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

, to August and Mathilde Mock, he studied law at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

and later

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. In Vienna, he became a member of K.A.V. Norica Wien, a Roman Catholic student fraternity, which is a member of the

Cartellverband The Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities ( or , CV) is a German umbrella organization of Catholic male student fraternities (). History Foundation During the period of 19th century in Germany called the , the Prussian state tried to ...

. From 1961, he advised Austrian chancellor Josef Klaus on

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

and EFTA policies. From 1962 till 1966, he worked at Austria's mission to the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

in Paris. In 1966, he became Klaus's cabinet secretary. From 1969 to 1970 was the youngest education minister in Austrian history. After the

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

elections 1971 - in which the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) under Bruno Kreisky won a majority — he became a member of parliament and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Euratsfeld. From 1971 to 1978, he chaired the ÖAAB, the most important grouping of the ÖVP. From 1978 to 1987, he was the leader of the ÖVP parliamentary group, and from 1979, he also was ÖVP federal party chairman. He was later to be succeeded by Josef Riegler, Erhard Busek and

Wolfgang Schüssel Wolfgang Schüssel (; born 7 June 1945) is a retired Austrian 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 contemporary A ...

. In 1979, Mock became President of the European Democrat Union (EDU), and from 1983 to 1987 also was president of the International Democratic Union (IDU). At the 1983 elections, the ÖVP obtained nearly the same percentage as Kreisky's SPÖ. Kreisky didn't want to go on without an absolute majority and stepped down. Following the 1986 elections, Alois Mock was Austrian vice chancellor in the government of Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ) from 1987 to 1989. From 1987 to 1995, he was foreign minister, leading Austria into the

. He became one of Austria's most popular politicians. In June 1989, together with his Hungarian colleague Gyula Horn, he cut the wires of the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

near Sopron at the fortified border to

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

neighbour Hungary. As a result, during the following months, thousands of East German citizens were able to exit the Eastern Bloc In 1991, he urged Hans-Dietrich Genscher and

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...

to recognize

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

as independent states as soon as possible. In November 1989 Mock was one of the founders of the Central European cooperative Pentagonale, which later grew from 5 countries to 18 of the CEI ( Central European Initiative). In 1999, he retired from parliament because of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. At the time of his death, Mock was a Member of the Advisory Board of th
Global Panel Foundation
an NGO that works behind the scenes in crisis areas around the world.

Death

Mock died on 1 June 2017 from complications of

at the age of 82.https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/06/01/world/europe/ap-eu-austria-obit-alois-mock.html?

Honours and awards

* Grand Gold Medal with Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria *Golden Commander's Cross with the Star of Honour for Services to the province of Lower Austria *Grand Gold Medal of the province of Upper Austria *Medal of Tyrol *Large Order Montfort of Vorarlberg *Carinthian Order in Gold * Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * Grand Cross of Merit of the Italian Republic (1993) *

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(France) *Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) *Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Principality of Liechtenstein * Grand Order of King Dmitar Zvonimir (Croatia) * Order of the Dragon of Bosnia * Mother Teresa Medal (Albania) *Grand Cross of Merit of the Republic of Cyprus * Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland * Order of Stara Planina, 1st class (Bulgaria) * Order of the Star of Jordan (Jordan) *Grand Officer's Cross of the Order of Umayyad Syria * Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Gwanghwa Medal (South Korea) *Grand Cross of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile) *Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator San Martin (Argentina) * Star of Mahaputera, 2nd class (Indonesia) * Order of the Rising Sun (Japan) *Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory *Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania *Grand Order of Merit of South Tyrol *Peace Connection Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina) *Commander's Cross with the Star of

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit () is the fourth highest Order (honour), State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the Order of ...

*Great merit of the Province of South Tyrol (Alto Adige) *National Order of faithful service in the rank of Commander (Romania)

References

External links

The Global Panel Foundation
, - , width="30%" align="center" , Preceded by:
Josef Taus , width="40%" align="center" , Chair of the Austrian People's Party
1979–1989 , width="30%" align="center" rowspan=2, Josef Riegler , - , width="30%" align="center" , Preceded by:
Norbert Steger , width="40%" align="center" ,

Vice-Chancellor of Austria The vice-chancellor of Austria is a member of the Government of Austria and is the deputy to the Chancellor. It is functionally equivalent to a deputy prime minister in other countries with parliamentary systems. The current vice-chancellor ...

1987–1989 , - , width="30%" align="center" , Preceded by:
Peter Jankowitsch , width="40%" align="center" ,

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

1987–1995 , width="30%" align="center" , Succeeded by: