Thomas Prinzhorn

Thomas Prinzhorn ( born March 5, 1943 in Vienna) is an Austrian industrialist and politician (FPÖ and BZÖ). He was initially 2000-2002 Second President of the National Council and thereafter until 2006 Third president of the National Council.

Life

Thomas Prinzhorn studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Vienna and graduated in 1967 with a diploma in engineering from. At Harvard Prinzhorn also studied economics, concluding there he made in 1973. Subsequently he established himself with the company of his father, W. Hamburger AG and Mosburger AG, as the paper industrialist.

As a long -time CEO in several companies in the paper industry, he came across the Industrialists' Association in politics. Thus he became in 1978 a member of the Board of the Association of Austrian Industrialists from 1975 to 1988 he was chairman of the Committee on Education and Social Policy, 1988-1993 Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee and from 1991 to 1993 president of the Viennese Industry Association. In 1996, he was first elected to the National Council, which he served until 1998. At this time he left after just three years in the National Council of its functions. The reason back then: Massive differences of opinion with respect to the Haider- course. This Prinzhorn had then helped significantly to create a restructuring plan for the difficult financial tailspin Come into because of the Causa Rose Stingl FPÖ Lower Austria. Member of the FPÖ was Prinzhorn in 1998.

At the general election in 1999 he was appointed surprisingly top candidate of the Freedom. Originally intended for a ministerial post, he was in the course of forming a government in 2000 by President Thomas Klestil because perceived as particularly distasteful xenophobic utterances during the election campaign ( foreigners would be preferred by the authorities against the Austrians and free with fertility drugs ) declined. Instead, he was elected on the proposal of the Freedom Party, which was the second strongest at this time party to the Second National President, giving him but allowed less current political leeway. In the fall of 2002, it looked like this, as if he should again play a bigger role in the party, because in September 2002 he was diagnosed in Linz as deputy party leader. After the early parliamentary elections in 2002, however, the FPÖ fell back to third place, the result was Prinzhorn from now third National President. The entrepreneur and economic spokesman for the Freedom Party was at that time primarily as a support of the government team led by the former Vice- Chancellor and FPÖ boss Susanne Riess -Passer. The relationship with the Carinthian governor Jörg Haider was against it cooled considerably in the meantime. In the course of the intra-party turmoil and its related materiel exit from the FPÖ in 2005, he was still up to April 27, 2006 deputy in the service of the Freedom Party, and thereafter for up to 29 October 2006, the AAF. The office of the third National President, he had held until 30 October.

With assets of 1.1 billion euros, he is the second - richest politician in Austria by Frank Stronach.

Awards

• 2005: Grand Silver Medal with Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria