Alexander Schallenberg

"Schallenberg" redirects here. For other uses, see Schallenberg (surname).

Alexander Schallenberg
OMRI
Schallenberg in 2023
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
6 December 2021
ChancellorKarl Nehammer
Preceded byMichael Linhart
In office
3 June 2019 – 11 October 2021
ChancellorBrigitte Bierlein
Sebastian Kurz
Preceded byKarin Kneissl
Succeeded byMichael Linhart
Chancellor of Austria
In office
11 October 2021 – 6 December 2021
PresidentAlexander Van der Bellen
Vice-ChancellorWerner Kogler
Preceded bySebastian Kurz
Succeeded byKarl Nehammer
Minister of the Chancellery
In office
6 June 2019 – 7 January 2020
Serving with Ines Stilling
ChancellorBrigitte Bierlein
Preceded byGernot Blümel
Juliane Bogner-Strauß
Succeeded byChristine Aschbacher
Karoline Edtstadler
Susanne Raab
Personal details
Born (1969-06-20) 20 June 1969 (age 54)
Bern, Switzerland
Political partyPeople's Party (2020–present)
Other political
affiliations		Independent (before 2020)
Spouse
Marie-Isabelle Hénin
​
​
(m. 1995)​
(divorced)
Children4
Parent
EducationUniversity of Vienna
Panthéon-Assas University
College of Europe

Alexander Georg Nicolas Schallenberg OMRI (German: [ˌalɛˈksandɐ ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈnɪkolas ˈʃaln̩beʁk]; born 20 June 1969) is an Austrian diplomat, jurist, and politician who has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the government of Chancellor Karl Nehammer since 2021, previously holding the office from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), he held the position in the second government of Sebastian Kurz, before briefly serving as Chancellor of Austria as Kurz's successor from 11 October to 6 December 2021.

A member of the Schallenberg family and a graduate of the College of Europe,[1] Schallenberg was a career diplomat who became a mentor to Kurz when the latter became foreign minister. Kurz appointed him director of strategic foreign policy planning and head of the European department.[2] Schallenberg joined the cabinet as foreign minister in 2019. After Kurz announced his pending resignation on 9 October 2021, Schallenberg was proposed by the ÖVP to replace him as Chancellor of Austria.[3] He was sworn in on 11 October 2021.[4] Schallenberg announced his pending resignation on 2 December 2021, after less than two months in office. His resignation took effect on 6 December; he returned to the position of foreign minister.

Background and family[edit]

Main article: Schallenberg family
Coat of arms of the Schallenberg family, who received the title of Count in 1666

A member of the comital branch of the Austro-Hungarian Schallenberg family,[5][1] Schallenberg was born in 1969 in Bern, Switzerland, where his father Wolfgang was Austrian ambassador to Switzerland.[6] His mother is a native of Switzerland, and the daughter of Swiss banker and president of UBS Alfred Schaefer.[1] Schallenberg was raised in India, Spain and France where his father served as ambassador; his father eventually became Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry.[6] Schallenberg speaks German, French, English and Spanish fluently, and has basic knowledge of Russian.[7][8][9] The Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels lists his given names as Alexander Georg Nicolas Christoph Wolfgang Tassilo,[10] though Schallenberg has disputed this and listed Alexander Georg Nicolas as his given names.[11]

His paternal grandfather, Herbert, Count of Schallenberg (1901–1974), was Austrian consul general in Prague,[12][13] while his paternal grandmother was the daughter of politician Walter Koch, the Saxon and later German ambassador in Prague. He is a 2nd great-grandson of Austro-Hungarian general Karl Kostersitz von Marenhorst. Schallenberg has mainly Swiss ancestry on his mother's side and Austrian, Bohemian, Moravian, Hungarian and Saxon ancestry on his father's side. Alexander Schallenberg's traditional title is Count,[5] the hereditary title his family was conferred in 1666 within the Habsburg Hereditary Lands.[a] He is the first chancellor since Kurt Schuschnigg and Prince Starhemberg to belong to a noble family.[14][15]

Marriage and children[edit]

Schallenberg married French–Belgian European civil servant and fellow graduate of the College of Europe Marie-Isabelle Hénin (born 1969 in Uccle) in Saint-Pierre, France in 1995.[5] She is the daughter of Erik Hénin and noted equestrian and 1960s Parisian socialite Isabelle Le Maresquier, and a granddaughter of the prominent French architect Noël Le Maresquier and Spanish noblewoman Conchita López de Tejada; Isabelle Le Maresquier was a niece of French prime minister Michel Debré. Her family was discussed as an example of French "state nobility" by Pierre Bourdieu.[16]

Alexander and Marie-Isabelle Schallenberg have four children; they later divorced.[17]

Education and early career[edit]

From 1989 to 1994, he studied law at the University of Vienna and the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas. From 1995 to 1996 he earned an LL.M. in European law at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium,[18][19] an institution that aims "to train an elite of young executives for Europe"[20] and whose graduates are said to form a close-knit "Bruges Mafia."[21] Schallenberg was a graduate of the "Walter Hallstein promotion."[18]

In 1997, Schallenberg joined the Austrian diplomatic service.[22] From 2000 to 2005, he worked at the permanent representation of Austria to the European Union in Brussels, where he headed the legal department. In 2006, he became a press spokesman to Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, a fellow College of Europe graduate. When Sebastian Kurz became foreign minister, Schallenberg was appointed as director of strategic foreign policy planning in 2013. Originally he was scheduled to become ambassador to India in 2014, but he chose to remain at the foreign ministry to work with the new foreign minister. Schallenberg was widely seen as a mentor to the inexperienced Kurz who knew little of foreign policy, who in turn promoted him to senior posts.[2] In 2016 Schallenberg became head of the European department of the foreign ministry.[23]

Political career[edit]

Schallenberg meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 7 February 2023

On 3 June 2019, Schallenberg succeeded Karin Kneissl as foreign minister of Austria.[24] He maintained his position as part of the second Kurz cabinet, which was sworn in on 7 January 2020. He stepped down when he became chancellor, but returned to the position following his resignation.[25]

Chancellor[edit]

See also: Schallenberg government

After Kurz announced his pending resignation on 9 October 2021 as a result of the Kurz corruption probe, Schallenberg was proposed by the ÖVP to replace him as chancellor of Austria.[3]

Schallenberg was sworn in as chancellor on 11 October 2021 by President Alexander Van der Bellen.[26] In his first official act, he nominated career diplomat and ambassador to France Michael Linhart to succeed him as foreign minister.[27]

In November 2021, Schallenberg announced that COVID-19 vaccines would be mandatory in Austria from February 2022. It became the first European country to mandate the vaccine.[28]

Schallenberg announced his resignation on 2 December 2021 following Kurz's announcement that he was leaving politics just a few hours prior. As his reason for stepping down, he cited his belief that the chancellor and party leader should be the same person.[29]

Foreign minister[edit]

On 9 October 2023, Schallenberg announced the suspension of the delivery of 19 million euros ($20 million) of aid to Palestinian areas in response to Hamas's attack on Israel and said that it would review its existing projects in Palestine. He also said that he would summon the Iranian ambassador to address Iran's "abhorrent reactions" to the attack.[30]

Honours[edit]

Other activities[edit]

Since 2020, Schallenberg has been a trustee of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism.[33]

Explanatory notes[edit]

  1. ^ The much smaller modern Republic of Austria that only encompasses a part of the Hereditary Lands does not recognise noble titles. In his country of birth, Switzerland, noble titles are often used socially, but have no special legal status. Hungary has no special regulation regarding noble titles; the same is true in the Czech Republic and several other modern successor countries of the Hereditary Lands.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Österreichs neuer Kanzler Alexander Schallenberg: Diplomat, Adliger und Kurz-Vertrauter mit Schweizer Wurzeln". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Archived from the original on 12 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b Schiltz, Christoph B. (12 October 2021). "Der Lehrmeister übernimmt". Die Welt (in German). Archived from the original on 12 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Sebastian Kurz "macht Platz" und zieht sich als Kanzler zurück". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  4. ^ "AVISO: Morgen, 13:00 Uhr: Ernennung und Angelobung von Bundeskanzler Alexander Schallenberg durch Bundespräsident Alexander Van der Bellen". ots.at (in German). 10 October 2021. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Genealogisches Handbuch der gräflichen Häuser [Genealogical Handbook of the Comital Houses]. Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Vol. XVIII/139. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke Verlag. 2006. p. 375. ISBN 3-798-00839-6.
  6. ^ a b "Das Spielfeld der Diplomatie ist die zweite Reihe" (in German). Oberösterreichische Nachrichten. 26 June 2017. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Aristokrat und Top-Diplomat". OE24. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  8. ^ "Alexander Schallenberg: "Als Diplomat musst du neugierig sein!"". Politische Akademie (in German). Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Stehen wir jetzt besser da, Herr Schallenberg?". Kronen Zeitung (in German). 8 January 2020. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  10. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Bd. XVIII/139. C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg an der Lahn 2006, S. 375. ISBN 3-798-00839-6.
  11. ^ dob (16 October 2021). "So heißt Alexander Schallenberg wirklich". Heute.at (in German). Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Die Geschichte der Österreichischen Botschaft in Prag und die Botschaftsgebäude". bmeia.gv.at (in German). Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  13. ^ Jahrbuch der Vereinigung katholischer Edelleute in Österreich. Verlagsanstalt Tyrolia A.G., Innsbruck/Wien/München 1931.
  14. ^ "Der neue Kanzler: Schallenberg denkt meist so wie Kurz". Der Standard (in German). Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021. Alexander (Graf) Schallenberg ist der erste Kanzler aus einer ehemals adeligen Familie seit Kurt Schuschnigg
  15. ^ Purger, Alexander (11 October 2021). "Der ehemalige Adel in der Politik und im Kanzleramt". Salzburger Nachrichten (in German). Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  16. ^ Bourdieu, Pierre (1998). The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power. Stanford University Press. p. 293.
  17. ^ "Wer ist Alexander Schallenberg?". News.at (in German). 6 June 2019. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Alexander SCHALLENBERG (Hallstein Promotion) — Austrian Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, Culture and Media". College of Europe. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  19. ^ "Kneissl-Nachfolger – Karrierediplomat und Kurz-Vertrauter Schallenberg wird Außenminister". Kleine Zeitung (in German). 30 May 2019. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  20. ^ Henri Brugmans, "Former des cadres pour l'Europe Archived 7 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine" [Training executives for Europe], Fédération, January 1950, No. 60, pp. 42–44
  21. ^ Schnabel, Rockwell Anthony; Rocca, Francis X. (2005). The next superpower? The rise of Europe and its challenge to the United States. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-7425-4547-2.
  22. ^ "Austria gets new leader after Kurz quits amid corruption claims". BBC News. 11 October 2021. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  23. ^ Um 18:16, 2 March 2018 (2 March 2018). "Schallenberg leitet EU-Sektion im Kanzleramt". Die Presse. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "The Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs". Foreign ministry of Austria. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  25. ^ Joly, Josephine (12 October 2021). "Alexander Schallenberg replaces Kurz as Austria's new chancellor". Euronews. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  26. ^ "Schallenberg set to replace Kurz as Austria's chancellor". Euronews. 11 October 2021. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Austria's ambassador to France will be next foreign minister -spokeswoman". Reuters. 11 October 2021. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  28. ^ Hirsch, Cornelius; Kotkamp, Lukas (19 November 2021). "Austria becomes first Western country to resort to mandatory coronavirus vaccination". Politico. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  29. ^ "Austrian Chancellor Schallenberg says he will step down". Reuters. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  30. ^ "Austria Suspends Aid For Palestinians After Hamas Attack". Barron's. 9 October 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023.
  31. ^ "Ordensverleihung an den österreichischen Aussenminister". Lie:ZEIT. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  32. ^ "Schallenberg Dott. Alexander". Quirinale.it. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  33. ^ Board of Trustees Archived 5 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Schallenberg.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of the Chancellery
2019–2020
Served alongside: Ines Stilling 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
2019–2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of Austria
2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
2021–present 		Incumbent
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