Susanne Riess (born 3 January 1961 in

Braunau am Inn Braunau am Inn (; ) is a town in Upper Austria on the border with Germany. It is known for being the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. Geography The town is on the lower river Inn below its confluence with the Salzach, where it forms the border with ...

) is a former

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 of the

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...

(FPÖ). Riess-Passer is now

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Wüstenrot-Gruppe.

Career

In the first government headed by

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

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 ...

, which was inaugurated in 2000, she became

Vice Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth countr ...

and minister of

public services A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service (economics), service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing availab ...

and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

, representing her party in the coalition with Schüssel's

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). The Freedom Party had finished second in the 1999 election, so its leader,

Jörg Haider Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Au ...

, should have become Chancellor in any coalition with the ÖVP which finished third. However, Haider yielded to Schüssel in order to appease international opinion. Although this should have put him in line to become Vice-Chancellor, he realised he was too controversial to have any role in the government. He thus resigned as party leader in favour of Riess-Passer, who had been FPÖ managing chairwoman since 1996. In the course of the formation of the government in 2000, she became chairwoman and leader of the FPÖ. She was known for being loyal to Haider, which earned her the nickname ''Königskobra'' (

King Cobra The king cobra (''Ophiophagus hannah'') is a species complex of snakes Endemism, endemic to Asia. With an average of and a record length of , it is the world's longest venomous snake and among the heaviest. Under the genus ''Ophiophagus'', i ...

). After severe disagreements with her former political mentor Haider in Summer 2002 (the so-called Knittelfeld Putsch), she resigned from all of her posts, as did finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and the party spokesman in parliament, Peter Westenthaler. After the 2002 elections, she remained Vice Chancellor on a provisional basis until the coalition between ÖVP and FPÖ was renewed in early 2003, and has since had no involvement in politics. Since 2004, Riess-Passer has been the

of the Wüstenrot-Gruppe. Riess-Hahn was also on the advisory board of the later bankrupt

Signa Holding Signa Holding GmbH (stylized SIGNA) is Austria's largest privately owned real estate company. Signa Holding GmbH announced insolvency proceedings at the end of November 2023. The company will apply for self-administration restructuring proceed ...

Susanne Riess-Passer Nacht des Sports 2008

Personal life

In 2022 she married European Commissioner

Johannes Hahn Johannes Hahn (born 2 December 1957) is an Austrian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Budget and Administration under Ursula von der Leyen since 1 December 2019. He previously served as European Commissioner for Neighbourho ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riess, Susanne 1961 births Living people Susanne Riess Vice-chancellors of Austria People from Braunau am Inn 20th-century Austrian women politicians 20th-century Austrian politicians 21st-century Austrian women politicians 21st-century Austrian politicians