Nikolaus Berlakovich
Nikolaus Berlakovich ( born June 4, 1961 in Eisenstadt ) is an Austrian farmer and politician ( ÖVP ) and belongs to the Burgenland - Croat minority. Berlakovich was from 1991 to 2005 Member of the Landtag Burgenland and from 2005 Agricultural and Environmental Provincial Government in the government of Burgenland Niessl II In Faymann cabinet I held Berlakovich the function of the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water.
Education and work
Nikolaus Berlakovich attended elementary school in Nebersdorf and moved to the Natural Science School in Oberpullendorf, where he took off after 1979, the Matura. He subsequently studied at the University of Natural Resources and Agriculture ( crop production ) and graduated in 1985 with the degree of Dipl. -Ing. from.
Policy
Nikolaus Berlakovich belongs since 1987 to the municipal council of Großwarasdorf and from 1987 to 2002 1st Vice- Mayor of the municipality. Since 1990 he has been District Farmers' Association chairman in the district Oberpullendorf and district party vice-president. In 1991 he was elected state party vice-president of the ÖVP Burgenland. From 1998 to 2000 he worked as an ÖVP - country manager.
Berlakovich engaged as a farmer in the Farmers 'Union, was the Farmers Federation deputy chairman from 1995 and was elected on 28 January 2006 to the State Chairman of the Burgenland Farmers' Federation. As Burgenland - Croat to Berlakovich began for the minority group politics and was from 1993 to 1998 chairman of the Association of Croatian local politicians in Burgenland, since 1998 he is the honorary chairman.
Nikolaus Berlakovich was from 1991 to 2005 Member of the Landtag Burgenland and led the state legislature club from 2002 to 2005 as club chairman. He was speaker of the ethnic group ÖVP parliamentary group. On 19 May 2005 he was elected as a Councillor in the Burgenland Government. His division covered the areas of agriculture, forestry, water and waste management, nature conservation and environmental protection.
From 2 December 2008, he was responsible in the federal government Faymann I direct successor to Josef Pröll the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.
2010 came Berlakovich for an alleged Tobsuchtsanfalls at the Paris airport in the headlines after he missed a connecting flight because of a weather-related delay. Berlakovich was in the wake of the media as saying "The Austrian Embassy in Paris is a mess " quotes. Even his party distanced itself from his behavior.
Early 2013 were loud calls for his resignation after the ban bee toxic pesticides he refused the proposal of the EU Commission approval.
At the intergovernmental negotiations after the general election of 2013, the ÖVP - tip made it clear that Berlakovich would no longer belong to the next cabinet. His term as Prime Minister ended on December 16, 2013 with the appointment of the Federal Government Faymann II
Private
Nikolaus Berlakovich is married and has two children. He lives in Nebersdorf, community Großwarasdorf.
Honors and Awards
- Grand Gold Medal with Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria by Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer