Franz Vranitzky

Franz Vranitzky (born October 4, 1937, Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian political leader who served as Austria’s chancellor (1986–97) and was chairman of the Socialist Party (from 1991, Social Democratic Party; Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs [SPÖ]; 1988–97).

Vranitzky worked for the Austrian National Bank (1961–70) and received a doctorate in business studies from the Vienna University of Business and Economics in 1969. He was an adviser on economic affairs to Finance Minister Hannes Androsch (1970–76). In the 1970s and ’80s Vranitzky also served in a number of posts in the banking industry, and in 1984 he became finance minister himself, serving in that position until 1986. At the time, his fellow party member Fred Sinowatz was the Austrian chancellor as the head of a coalition between the SPÖ and the Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs; FPÖ). Sinowatz retired as chancellor in 1986 and was succeeded by Vranitzky, who continued the coalition with the FPÖ until Jörg Haider, a strident nationalist, took over as chairman of the party in September 1986. Rejecting Haider’s free-market ideology and anti-immigrant rhetoric, Vranitzky dissolved the coalition and called new elections. Those were won by the SPÖ, and Vranitzky emerged as chancellor of a new coalition with the Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei; ÖVP) in 1987. He remained chancellor for 10 years and then passed on the chairmanship of the SPÖ and the office of the federal chancellor to his successor, Viktor Klima.

A supporter of European integration, Vranitzky managed to win a referendum in favour of joining the European Union by a wide margin in 1994. The country’s entry into the EU the following year was seen by many as his signature achievement. In domestic politics Vranitzky steered the SPÖ away from the right-wing populism and hostility to foreigners represented by the FPÖ.

One of the most-memorable events in Vranitzky’s career was a letter to all Austrian retirees in the electoral campaign of 1995. In that letter he personally promised that the pensions would not be cut. Vranitzky could not keep his promise, and in the following years the letter became a symbol of broken election pledges.

Vranitzky was the first Austrian chancellor to admit publicly that Austrians played an active part in World War II and the Holocaust.