Madeleine Petrovic (; born 25 June 1956) is an Austrian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. From 1994 to 1996 she was federal spokesperson of the

Austrian Green Party The Greens – The Green Alternative (, ) is a green political party in Austria. The Greens currently sit in opposition. Formerly, they were part of the Schallenberg government, the Second Kurz government, and the Nehammer government. It won ...

Biography

Early life

Save The World Awards 2009 show08 - Freda Meissner-Blau and Madeleine Petrovic

She attended Austrian gymnasium which she finished 1974, and studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

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 ...

, finishing in 1978. She then studied

management science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

at the

Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration The Vienna University of Economics and Business ( , WU) is a public research university in Vienna, Austria. The university received triple accreditation (AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA). History WU was founded on 1 October 1898 as ''k.u.k. Exportakadem ...

, finishing in 1982. She received an additional diploma as certified

interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

for

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. After working as assistant and

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses. Academic The title ''lector'' may be applied to lecturers ...

at the university, she was employed by the Ministry of Social Affairs. During the first

mailbomb A letter bomb is an explosive device sent via the mail, postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in terrorism, terrorist attacks such as those of the Theodore Kaczynski, U ...

series of Austrian terrorist

Franz Fuchs Franz Fuchs (12 December 1949 – 26 February 2000) was an Austrian domestic terrorist who killed four people and injured 15, some seriously, using three improvised explosive devices and 24 mail bombs, which he sent in five waves between 1993 an ...

, on December 5, 1993, a mailbomb targeted at her was discovered and neutralized. The same day

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. ...

's mayor Helmut Zilk was seriously injured by another mailbomb.

Political career

Greens

From 1986 to 1987 Petrovic was politically engaged in the

Döbling Döbling () is the 19th Districts of Vienna, district in the city of Vienna, Austria (). It is located in the north of Vienna, north of the districts Alsergrund and Währing. Döbling has some heavily populated urban areas with many residential bui ...

Greens. 1987 she became federal state chairwoman of the

Greens. In 1990 she became Member of the

National Council of Austria The National Council (, ) is one of the two houses of the Austrian Parliament and is frequently referred to as the lower house. The constitution endows the National Council with far more power than the Federal Council. Responsibilities The Nat ...

(Nationalrat). In 1994 and 1995 she was leading candidate during the campaign to the National Council elections. From 1994 to 1996 she was federal spokesperson of the Austrian Greens. Until 1999 she was chairwoman of the parliamentary club of the Greens in the national council. From 2001 to 2015 she was vice-spokesperson for the Austrian Greens. Petrovic additionally served as the state spokeswoman of the

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 ...

party branch for 13 years.

Independent

In early 2024 she announced her intention to run on her own platform in the upcoming general elections. On 14 May 2024, Petrovic officially formed her own party, the

Madeleine Petrovic List The Madeleine Petrovic List (; LMP) is a Green politics, green and COVID-19 misinformation, COVID-19 sceptical List of political parties in Austria, political party in Austria founded by former The Greens – The Green Alternative, Green spokeswom ...

with the majority of her party's members being former members of the Greens and members of the association "Greens for Fundamental Rights and Freedom of Information" (; GGI). previously known as the "Greens against Compulsory Vaccination & 2G" (). Petrovic announced her intention that her list plans to participate in the

2024 Austrian legislative election General election, Legislative elections were held in Austria on 29 September 2024 to elect the 28th National Council (Austria), National Council, the lower house of Austria's bicameral parliament. The election saw the far-right Freedom Party o ...

announcing they collected all 2,600 signatures to participate in the elections in August. During campaigning, Petrovic made headlines when she openly criticized the Greens for revising its bylaws to encode coronavirus precautions into party law.

Notes and references

External links

* * 1956 births Living people 20th-century Austrian women politicians 20th-century Austrian politicians 21st-century Austrian women politicians 21st-century Austrian politicians The Greens (Austria) politicians Vienna University of Economics and Business alumni Politicians from Vienna {{Austria-politician-stub