Jump to content

Andreas Babler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andreas "Andi" Babler
Babler in 2023
Vice-Chancellor of Austria
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 March 2025
ChancellorChristian Stocker
Preceded byWerner Kogler
Minister of the Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 March 2025
ChancellorChristian Stocker
Preceded byWerner Kogler
Chair of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 June 2023
Preceded byPamela Rendi-Wagner
Mayor of Traiskirchen
In office
29 April 2014 – 24 October 2024
Preceded byFriedrich Knotzer
Succeeded bySabrina Divoky
Member of the Federal Council
In office
23 March 2023 – 23 October 2024
AffiliationSocial Democratic Party
Member of the National Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
24 October 2024
AffiliationSocial Democratic Party
Personal details
Born
Andreas Babler

(1973-02-25) 25 February 1973 (age 52)
Mödling, Austria
Political partySocial Democratic Party
EducationUniversity for Continuing Education Krems (MSc)
WebsiteOfficial website

Andreas "Andi" Babler (born 25 February 1973) is an Austrian politician who has been the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) since June 2023[1] and vice-chancellor of Austria since March 2025.[2] He has been described as being a left-wing populist.[3][4]

Early life

[edit]

Babler grew up in a Semperit family in Möllersdorf, part of the municipality of Traiskirchen. He went to technical college in Mödling and subsequently worked in machine construction, as a warehouse labourer, and in a mineral water bottling plant.[5][6] After starting his career in politics, he studied political communication at the University for Continuing Education Krems (MSc).[7]

Political career

[edit]

In 1989, Babler joined the Socialist Youth Austria (SJÖ), where he rose to become the state secretary for the SJ Lower Austria, then the federal secretary of the SJÖ, and lastly vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY). In 1995, he became a member of the town council of Traiskirchen. He became mayor of Traiskirchen in 2014. In his first election he received the best election result for the SPÖ in Traiskirchen since 1945: 73.1 percent, an increase of 4.2%.[8]

Babler has received regular nationwide attention due to the Traiskirchen refugee camp, the largest refugee camp in Austria and one of the largest in Europe.[9][10] In the 2023 Lower Austrian provincial election, Babler received 20,000 preferential votes.[11] Traiskirchen was one of very few towns with increases for the SPÖ.[12] Subsequent to this success, he was named the chairperson of a reform commission of the Social Democratic Party of Lower Austria.[11] Following his success in the Lower Austrian provincial election in 2023, Babler was appointed member of the upper chamber of the Austrian Parliament, the Federal Council (Bundesrat), as a representative for Lower Austria in March 2023.[13][14]

On 23 March 2023, Babler announced his candidacy for the 2023 Social Democratic Party of Austria leadership election as a surprise candidate.[15][16][17] The results of the membership election were announced on 22 May 2023 and Babler came in second with 31.5% of the votes.[18] Babler and other party members requested that a run-off among the party members should be held between him and Hans Peter Doskozil, who came in first at 33.7%; the SPÖ leadership decided in a vote of 25–22 against it. Instead, an election for the party chair with the candidates Doskozil and Babler was held among 603 delegates at an extraordinary party congress on 3 June 2023.[19] According to the first counting of the ballot on 3 June 2023, Doskozil won over Babler with 53% versus 47% of the votes.[20] As the ballot was recounted on 5 June 2023, it was found that during the first counting the votes for Babler erroneously had been attributed to Doskozil and that vice versa the votes for Doskozil erroneously had been attributed to Babler. Babler accepted his election as party leader on 6 June 2023.[1][21][22]

In the 2024 legislative election, the SPÖ received 21.1% of the vote, down by 0.1%, however, they gained a seat, going from 40 to 41. Five months after the election, the SPÖ joined a coalition government with the ÖVP and NEOS, with Babler becoming vice-chancellor.

Political positions

[edit]

Babler has described himself as a Marxist,[23][24][25] but has said that he did not stand for concepts such as expropriations and a dictatorship of the proletariat.[25] He had previously ruled out a coalition government with ÖVP,[26] but backtracked in 2024.[27] He is a former member of the SPÖ's Marxist-Leninist “Stamokap” wing, and was criticised in the run-up to the 2023 SPÖ congress for a video in which he had described the European Union (EU) as “the most aggressive foreign policy alliance that ever existed” and “worse than Nato”, adding the EU was as an “imperialist project with a few social standards”.[28][29] Babler however said he did not advocate an Austrian exit from the EU but was in favour of a socially minded reform of the European treaties.[30]

Babler has also been described as being a left-wing populist.[3][4] Early in his tenure as leader in June 2023, Babler welcomed further arms deliveries from the European Union to Ukraine, with Jacobin noting his moderation in governing compared to his leadership campaign.[31] Der Standard said he had changed since the 2024 national elections; "When he appears before the press these days, he speaks calmly, much more slowly than before, with few emotions, no more open talk of class warfare. The new SPÖ leader now uses words like “constructive” and speaks of a coalition that “must be defined from the center.”[32]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Fehler bei Auszählung: Babler doch neuer SPÖ-Parteichef". kurier.at (in German). 5 June 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Babler Andreas, MSc | Parlament Österreich". www.parlament.gv.at (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b Löwenstein, Stephan; Wien (8 July 2023). "Andreas Babler: Links neben ihm soll niemand stehen". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b Imwinkelried, Daniel (12 June 2023). "Der neue SPÖ-Chef Andreas Babler stösst bereits auf Widerstand". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN 0376-6829. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  5. ^ Andi Babler Archived 30 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Verein Machen wir was – Verein zur Förderung politischer Beteiligung, Vienna (in German).
  6. ^ Andreas Babler, MSc Archived 31 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine, curriculum vitae, Social Democratic Party of Austria (in German).
  7. ^ "Medien, Strategien und Kommunikation in Arbeitskämpfen am Beispiel der Semperit Traiskirchen (Master Thesis)" (in German). 2009. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Traiskirchen hat gewählt" (in German). 25 January 2015. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Andreas Babler - der streitbare Bürgermeister von Traiskirchen" (in German). 30 June 2014. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Wie zornig sind Sie schon, Herr Bürgermeister" (in German). 15 November 2014. Archived from the original on 18 July 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Andreas Babler (SPÖ) von Vorzugsstimmen bei NÖ-Wahl "überwältigt"" (in German). 31 January 2023. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  12. ^ "Die spannendsten Gemeindeergebnisse" (in German). 29 January 2023. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  13. ^ "Babler Andreas, MSc - Parlament Österreich" (in German). 23 March 2023. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  14. ^ "Niederösterreichisches SPÖ-Bundesratsteam steht fest" (in German). Niederösterreichische Nachrichten. 15 March 2023. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  15. ^ "SPÖ-Mitgliederbefragung: Kein Duell, sondern mehrere Kandidaten" (in German). 22 March 2023. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  16. ^ "Traiskirchens Bürgermeister Babler kandidiert für SPÖ-Vorsitz" (in German). 23 March 2023. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Fünf Thesen, wie Bablers Antreten und ein Gerücht über Kern den SPÖ-Führungsstreit durcheinanderwirbeln" (in German). 24 March 2023. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  18. ^ "Hans Peter Doskozil gewinnt SPÖ-Mitgliederabstimmung". Die Presse (in German). 22 May 2023. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  19. ^ "SPÖ-Parteitag entscheidet über Vorsitz, rote Basis wird nicht erneut befragt". Der Standard (in German). 23 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  20. ^ "Doskozil ist neuer SPÖ-Chef". ORF. 3 June 2023. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  21. ^ "Babler ist nach Auszählungs-Panne statt Doskozil Chef der SPÖ". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  22. ^ Krutzler, David (6 June 2023). "Babler accepts his election (Babler nimmt die Wahl an)". derstandard.at (in German). Vienna: Standard Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  23. ^ philipp.wilhelmer (24 May 2023). "SPÖ-Kandidat Andreas Babler: "Ich bin Marxist"". kurier.at (in German). Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  24. ^ "An Open Marxist Just Became the Head of Austria's Social Democratic Party". jacobin.com. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  25. ^ a b Oltermann, Philip (5 June 2023). "Austrian Social Democrats announce wrong leader after 'technical error'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 April 2025. He told Austrian media in one interview: "I am a Marxist", but said in a follow-up interview that he did not stand for concepts such as expropriations and a dictatorship of the proletariat.
  26. ^ Oltermann, Philip (5 June 2023). "Austrian Social Democrats announce wrong leader after 'technical error'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 April 2025. Unlike Doskozil, Babler has ruled out forming a "grand coalition" with Austria's conservatives.
  27. ^ "Andreas Babler Has Disappointed the Austrian Left". jacobin.com. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  28. ^ Oltermann, Philip (5 June 2023). "Austrian Social Democrats announce wrong leader after 'technical error'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 April 2025. Babler, a former member of his party's Marxist-Leninist "Stamokap" wing, drew fire in the run-up to the party congress for a two-year-old video in which he had described the EU as "the most aggressive foreign policy alliance that ever existed" and "worse than Nato". He described the EU as an "imperialist project with a few social standards".
  29. ^ "An Open Marxist Just Became the Head of Austria's Social Democratic Party". jacobin.com. Retrieved 16 April 2025. During the leadership election, comments he made in 2020 in which he referred to the EU as the "most aggressive military alliance that has ever existed" and argued that its doctrine was "worse than NATO" surfaced.
  30. ^ Oltermann, Philip (5 June 2023). "Austrian Social Democrats announce wrong leader after 'technical error'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 April 2025. Babler said he did not advocate an Austrian exit from the bloc of nations but was in favour of a socially minded reform of the European treaties.
  31. ^ "Andreas Babler Has Disappointed the Austrian Left". jacobin.com. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  32. ^ "Das rechte Lager der SPÖ erodiert – was bedeutet das für Andreas Babler?". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 16 April 2025.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andreas_Babler&oldid=1288093012"