Christoph Leitl (born 29 March 1949 in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

) is an Austrian politician. A 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 ...

, he is the former president of the

Austrian Federal Economic Chamber The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (German language, de: ''Wirtschaftskammer Österreich'' or WKO) functions as the federal parent organization for the nine States of Austria, State Chambers and 110 trade associations for different industries w ...

and president of

EUROCHAMBRES Eurochambres is the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The association is a representative organisation in Brussels for businesses in Europe through 42 members (43 national associations of chambers of commerce and industry a ...

since 2018.

Life

Leitl has been married to Erni since 1973 and father of two children. He graduated from the Johannes Kepler University Linz in 1971 with a

Magister degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from , "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the doctorate; ...

and earned his doctorate in Economic and Social Sciences at the same university in 1973. Leitl served as president of Bauhütte Leitl-Werke Ges.m.b.H., a medium-sized company in the construction materials business owned by his family, from 1977 to 1990.

Politics

Leitl has always been known for his "fervent European perspective". Since the 1960s, he has been politically involved in European youth and entrepreneurs movements. From 1985 to 1990, Leitl was MP in the Upper Austria state legislature. In 1990, he became minister of Economic Affairs of the same state. From 1995 to 2000, Leitl concurrently served as Vice-Governor of Upper Austria. Leitl was elected vice-president of the Austrian People's Party branch of Upper Austria in 1990. In 1999, Leitl won the presidential election of the Österreichischer Wirtschaftsbund, the economic branch of the

. This cleared the way for Leitl to assume the presidency of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in 2000. He was re-elected in 2004 and 2009. During two election periods, from 2002 to 2005, Leitl also served as president of the European Chambers of Commerce and Industry (EUROCHAMBRES), who named him honorary president in 2006.FORMAT (in German)
/ref> He was re-elected as president of the same business organization in 2018. In May 2013, Leitl became a Honorary Member of SME Europe, the business organization of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

References

External links

Official biography

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leitl, Christoph Living people 1949 births Austrian People's Party politicians Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Politicians from Linz Johannes Kepler University Linz alumni