Günther Hopfgartner (; born 12 August 1964) is an Austrian politician and former journalist, who's currently serving as the Leader of the

Communist Party of Austria The Communist Party of Austria (, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of Republic of German-Austria, German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest Communist party, communist parties. The KP� ...

since June 2021. One of the founders of the European Left Party and former Chairman of the

Communist Youth of Austria The Communist Youth of Austria (, KJÖ) is an independent youth organization. It was associated with the Communist Party of Austria (German: ''Kommunistische Partei Österreichs'', KPÖ) for a long time, but since 2005, the KJÖ has increasingl ...

, Hopfgartner is likely best known for his campaign during the

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

Biography

Günther Hopfgartner was born on 12 August 1964, 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 ...

. He presumably started his career as a

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and Cardiopulmonary ...

, in the years between 1986 and 1989. At some point, Hopfgartner was the Chairman of the

(KJÖ). It is known that he was a KJÖ official in the years 1989–1992. From there, until 2006, he was an editor for the Volksstimme newspaper. After that, until 2014, he was a managing director of a

catering Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

business. From 2014 to 2023, Hopfgartner has held various positions, including leading ones, in different arts and culture-related institutions, including the Erbsenfabrik Laboratory for Art and Cultural Production. Since 2004, he has continuously been a board member of the

. In 2004, he participated in the founding of the European Left Party. Between 2006 and 2012, he was also a board member of the party. Since 13 July 2017, Hopfgartner is the managing director of the Café 7*Stern in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Neubau Neubau (; ; "New Build") is the seventh district of Vienna (). It is located near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Neubau is a heavily populated urban area, with a major shopping area and ...

. In 2021, he was elected Chair of the Communist Party. Since December 2022, he has also been the Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Social Criticism. In January 2024, Hopfgartner was announced to be the primary candidate for the 2024 European Parliament election in Austria. The core issue of the campaign was affordable housing and the reflection of the "true issues" in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. At a press release, Hopfgartner also advocated for the self-imposed salary cap, that was implemented on a federal level in Austria, to also be implemented in

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 ...

. The main campaign slogan of the party was "Housing instead of cannons" ("Wohnen statt Kanonen").

Political views

Internal affairs

Hopfgartner is a strong representative of the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

and neutrality and a known critic of the impact of

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

and

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

on the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

. During his electoral campaigns, he wanted to remove housing from competition law and create a European strategy for public housing that "meets the social and ecological requirements of our time". He insists that the salary cap for KPÖ politicians is made not higher than that of an average skilled worker.

Foreign policy

Regarding the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, Hopfgartner and his 2024 European Parliament campaign called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, demanding "a life free from violence!". Later that year, he'd call for the recognition of the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and for the expansion of the support for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. He proposed that instead of supplying "excessive" armaments, Europe should invest in Ukrainian housing, write off its debt, etc. Hopfgartner sees two possible perspectives for 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 ...

: Either it moves towards a "community of solidarity", a social union, or it continues towards "

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

", in which the funds for social services, affordable housing or care will not be available.

Personal life

Günther Hopfgartner is single.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopfgartner, Günther 1964 births Living people People from Linz Politicians from Linz Austrian communists Communist Party of Austria politicians