Österreichische Volkspartei
Leader	Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel
Founded	1893 (Christian Social Party) April 17, 1945 (ÖVP)
Headquarters	Lichtenfelsgasse 7 A-1010 Vienna
Political Ideology	Christian Democracy, Conservatism
International Affiliation	Christian Democrat and People's Parties International and International Democrat Union
European Affiliation	European People's Party and European Democrat Union
European Parliament Group	EPP-ED
Colours	Black
Website	http://www.oevp.at
See also	Politics of Austria Political parties Elections Image File history File links Download high resolution version (873x290, 21 KB)Logo of the Austrian Peoples Party ÖVP. Send by the Press Office of the ÖVP. Erlaubniss zur Nutzung von der Pressestelle durch Email erteilt. ... Wolfgang Schüssel Wolfgang Schüssel (born on June 7, 1945 in Vienna, Austria) is a Christian Democratic Austrian politician. ... 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Christian Social Party (CS) was an Austrian political party from 1893 to 1933 and a predecessor of the contemporary Austrian Peoples Party. ... April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya; Croatian and Serbian: Beč) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Christian Democracy is a political ideology, born at the end of the 19th century, largely as a result of the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII, in which the Vatican recognizes workers misery and agrees that something should be done about it, in reaction to the rise of... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... The Christian Democrat and Peoples Parties International (IDC-CDI) is the global political international dedicated to the promotion of christian democracy. ... The International Democrat Union is an international grouping of conservative and, in some cases, Christian democratic parties. ... The European Peoples Party is a Christian democrat-conservative political party at European level founded in 1976. ... The European Democrat Union is the European wing of the International Democrat Union. ... The European Peoples Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats is a group in the European Parliament. ... This article is about the color black; for other uses, see Black (disambiguation). ... Politics of Austria takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ... A political party is a political organization subscribing to a certain ideology or formed around very special issues with the aim to participate in power, usually by participating in elections. ... Elections in Austria gives information on election and election results in Austria. ...

The Austrian People's Party (de:Österreichische Volkspartei, or ÖVP) is an Austrian political party. It is roughly comparable to the German Christian Democratic Union in terms of both platform and voter demographics. The People's Party has been founded immediately following the reestablishment of the Federal Republic of Austria in 1945 and has been a major player in Austrian politics ever since. German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ... A political party is an organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. ... The Christian Democratic Union (CDU - Christlich-Demokratische Union) is a political party in Germany. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Politics of Austria takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ...

Platform

With regard to social policy, the Austrian People's Party is a classical conservative movement, running on a platform of respect for tradition and stability of social order. In particular, it is expressly not interested in strengthening Austria's incomplete separation of church and state and appears to be somewhat skeptical of affirmative action, gay rights, and other forms of real or perceived Social engineering. For most of its existence, the People's Party has explicitly defined itself as Catholic and anti-socialist; the ideal of subsidiarity as defined by the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno is generally considered one of the historical cornerstones of its agenda. Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... The separation of church and state is a concept and philosophy in modern thought and practice, whereby the structures of the state or national government are proposed as needing to be separate from those of religious institutions. ... Affirmative action (U.S. English), or positive discrimination (British English), is a policy or a program promoting the representation in various systems of people of a group who have traditionally been discriminated against, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society. ... The gay rights movement is a collection of loosely aligned civil rights groups, human rights groups, support groups and political activists seeking acceptance, tolerance and equality for non-heterosexual, (homosexual, bisexual), and transgender people - despite the fact that it is typically referred to as the gay rights movement, members also... For a similar concept in a different discipline see Social engineering (computer security). ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... Subsidiarity is the idea that matters should be handled by the smallest (or, the lowest) competent authority. ... In the ancient Church, an encyclical was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area. ... Quadragesimo Anno is an encyclical by Pope Pius XI, issued 15 May 1931, 40 years after Rerum Novarum (thus the name, Latin for the fortieth year). Written as a response to the Great Depression, it calls for the establishment of a social order based on the principle of subsidiarity. ...

With regard to economic policy, the People's Party advocates what is probably best described as neoliberalism, endorsing the reduction of Austria's relatively large public sector, welfare reform, and general deregulation. With regard to foreign affairs, it strongly supports European integration. Over the last two decades, the People's party has also adopted a more pronouncedly environmentalist stance than is typical for conservative movements. For the related liberal individualist philosophy, see Libertarianism. ... The public sector is that part of economic and administrative life that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the government, whether national, regional or local/municipal. ... Welfare reform is the name for a political movement in countries with a state-administered social welfare system to institute changes in that system, generally in a more conservative direction. ... Deregulation is the process by which governments remove restrictions on business in order to (in theory) encourage the efficient operation of markets. ... European integration is the process of political and economic (and in some cases social and cultural) integration of European states into a tighter bloc. ... Environmentalism is the support or involvement with the environmental movement by environmentalists. ...

The People's Party's position within the traditional political spectrum is hard to mark down. On the one hand, its views on economic policy are slightly right-of-center if seen in the context of Europe's political landscape, and its views on social policy are right-of-center in the context of the political landscape of almost any Western democracy. On the other hand, its views on economic policy are still arguably closer to those of classical social democracy than to those of classical laissez-faire capitalism, and it advocates decidedly more economic interventionism than most ostensibly left-wing parties in Europe. Party leaders and intellectuals have been known to approvingly comment on select aspects of economic philosophies like those of Margaret Thatcher or Friedrich Hayek, but the party's rank and file mostly do not follow suit. While the party is seen as more or less rightist by many Austrians and other Europeans, it would appear centrist or possibly even leftist to most American observers. A political spectrum is a way of comparing or visualizing different political positions, by placing them upon one or more geometric axes. ... World map showing Europe Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. ... Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ... Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ... Economic interventionism is a term used to describe activity undertaken by a central government to affect a countrys economy in an attempt to increase economic growth and/or standards of living. ... The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), is a British politician. ... Friedrich Hayek Friedrich August Hayek (May 8, 1899 in Vienna – March 23, 1992 in Freiburg) was an Austrian economist of the Austrian School of economics. ... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... In politics, centrism usually refers to the political ideal of promoting moderate policies which land in the middle ground between different political extremes. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition...

Demographics

The Austrian People's Party is popular mainly among white collar employees, large and small business owners, and farmers. In particular, it is backed by a majority of Austria's civil servants, a remarkably large and influential group due to the size and scope of Austria's government bureaucracy. Austria's blue collar workers, by comparison, tend to endorse the Social Democratic Party and the Freedom Party. All in all, People's Party supporters are comparatively educated and affluent. As its supporters like to point out, the People's Party enjoys growing popularity with younger voters according to a number of recent public opinion polls. White-collar workers perform tasks which are less laborious yet often more highly paid than blue-collar workers, who do manual work. ... A small business may be defined as a business with a small number of employees. ... Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field. ... A majority is a subset of a group that is more than half of the entire group. ... A blue-collar worker is a working class employee who performs manual or technical labor, such as in a factory or in technical maintenance trades, in contrast to a white-collar worker, who does non-manual work generally at a desk. ... The Social Democratic Party of Austria (de:Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, or SPÖ) is a political party in Austria. ... The Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, abbreviated to FPÖ) is an Austrian political party formerly associated with the name of Jörg Haider, who is no longer a party member. ...

History

The Austrian People's Party is the successor of the Christian Social Party, a staunchly conservative movement founded in 1893 by Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna and highly controversial right-wing populist. In its present form, the People's Party was established immediately after the restoration of Austria's independence in 1945; it has been represented in both the Federal Assembly ever since. In terms of Federal Assembly seats, the People's Party has consistently been the strongest or second-strongest party; as such, it has lead or at least been a partner in most Austria's federal cabinets. The People's Party has also been consistently controlling the state governments of the rural and strongly Catholic states of Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. It is less popular in the city state of Vienna and in the rural but less strongly Catholic states of Burgenland and Carinthia. In 2004 it lost its plurality in the State of Salzburg and in 2005 in Styria for the first time. All things considered, the People's Party would have been near-incontestably dominating Austrian politics had it not been not for the comparatively populous and solidly social democratic metropolis of Vienna. The Christian Social Party (CS) was an Austrian political party from 1893 to 1933 and a predecessor of the contemporary Austrian Peoples Party. ... 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Karl Lueger (October 24, 1844-March 10, 1910) was an Austrian politician and mayor of Vienna, known for his anti-semitism and racist policies. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya; Croatian and Serbian: Beč) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Federal Assembly of Austria or Österreichische Bundesversammlung is a federal-level deliberative body consisting of the members of the two houses of the Austrian parliament, the National Council and the Federal Council, in joint session. ... Rural area in Dalarna, Sweden Sheep eating grass in rural Australia Rural areas are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities and towns. ... Since Austria is a federal republic according to the constitutional framework of Austrian politics, Austrias nine provinces are customarily referred to as States of Austria or Bundesländer, singular Bundesland. ... Map of Lower Austria showing districts and the four quarters (Waldviertel in green, Weinviertel in red, Mostviertel in yellow and Industrieviertel in blue) Lower Austria (de: Niederösterreich) is one of the nine states or Länder in Austria. ... Upper Austria (Ober sterreich) is one of the nine federal states or Bundesl nder of Austria. ... Salzburg (area 7154 sq. ... Styria (die Steiermark in German, Å tajerska in Slovenian) is a state or Land, located in the south east of Austria. ... Robotech anime series, please see Tirol (planet). ... Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal state of Austria. ... A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city, and usually having sovereignty. ... Burgenland (Hungarian Várvidék, Őrvidék or FelsÅ‘Å‘rvidék, Croatian Gradišće, Slovenian Gradiščansko) is the easternmost state or Land of Austria. ... Carinthia (German Kärnten, Slovenian KoroÅ¡ka) is a Austrian state or Land, located in the south of Austria. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A plurality (or relative majority) is the largest share of something, which may or may not be a majority. ... Salzburg (area 7154 sq. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Styria (die Steiermark in German, Å tajerska in Slovenian) is a state or Land, located in the south east of Austria. ... The Social Democratic Party of Austria (de:Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, or SPÖ) is a political party in Austria. ... A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large city and its adjacent zone of influence, or of several neighboring cities or towns and adjoining areas, with one or more large cities serving as its hub or hubs. ...

After the Austrian legislative election, 1999, the People's Party formed in 2000 a coalition government with the right-wing populist Jörg Haider's Austrian Freedom Party. This caused widespread outrage in Europe, and fourteen members of the European Union imposed informal diplomatic sanctions against Austria's federal administration. A few months later, these sanctions were dropped as a result of a fact-finding mission by three former European prime ministers, the so-called "three wise men". In November 2002, general elections resulted in a landslide victory (42.27% of the vote) for the People's Party under the leadership of Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. Haider's Freedom Party, which in 1999 was slightly stronger than Schüssel's party, was reduced to 10.16% of the vote. In Austria, the legislative election of October 3, 1999 (elections for the National Council of Austria) caused a major upheaval in the political landscape. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Jörg Haider in Carinthia (promotional photo) Jörg Haider (born January 26, 1950) is an Austrian politician. ... The Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, abbreviated to FPÖ) is an Austrian political party usually associated with the name of Jörg Haider. ... 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The election for the National Council of 24 November 2002, saw the consevative Austrian Peoples Party win the government, taking seats from the nationalist Freedom of Austria Party whom it was in coalition with. ... The Federal Chancellor of Austria (Bundeskanzler) is the head of government in Austria. ... Wolfgang Schüssel Wolfgang Schüssel (born on June 7, 1945 in Vienna, Austria) is a Christian Democratic Austrian politician. ...

Chairpersons since 1945

The chart below shows a timeline of the christian democratic chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria. The left black bar shows all the chairpersons (Bundesparteiobleute, abbreviated as "CP") of the ÖVP party, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ) and black (ÖVP) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as "Govern."). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, the Roman numeral stands for the cabinets. The Federal Chancellor of Austria (Bundeskanzler) is the head of government in Austria. ... The Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ) is a political party in Austria. ... The Austrian Peoples Party or Österreichische Volkspartei is an Austrian political party. ... A Cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ...

External link

• Austrian People's Party (official site)
• Austrian People's Party Country Studies - Austria
• www.zukunft.at political youth-community