The Greens – The

Green Alternative

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The Austrian Green Party (German: Die

Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative, lit. 'The
Greens – The Green Alternative') is a
green[1] political party in Austria.
 The Greens – The Green Alternative
Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative

Abbreviation GRÜNE
Spokesman Werner Kogler
Managing director Angela Stoytchev
Founded 1993 (Die Grünen)
1986 (Merger of
Vereinte Grüne
Österreichs and
Alternative Liste
Österreich)

Headquarters Lindengasse 40
A-1071 Vienna
Ideology Green politics[1]
Pro-Europeanism[2]
Political position Centre-left[3]
European affiliation European Green Party
International affiliation Global Greens
European Parliament Greens–European Free
group Alliance
Colours      Green
National Council 26 /
183

Federal Council 2 / 61

Governorships 0/9

State cabinets 5/9

State diets 37 /
440
European Parliament 2 / 18

Website
www.gruene.at
Politics of Austria
Political parties
Elections

The party was founded in 1986 under the

name "Green Alternative" (Grüne
Alternative), following the merger of the
more conservative Green party Vereinte
Grüne Österreichs (United Greens of
Austria VGÖ, founded 1982) and the more
progressive party Alternative Liste
Österreichs (Alternative List Austria, ALÖ,
founded 1982). Since 1993, the party has
carried the official name Die Grünen – Die
Grüne Alternative (Grüne), but refers to
itself in English as "Austrian Greens".
There are still differences between the
former members of the old Alternative and
VGÖ factions within the party, reflected in
the differing approaches of the national
and state parties.

Apart from ecological issues such as

environmental protection, the Greens also
campaign for the rights of minorities and
advocate a socio-ecological (ökosozial)
tax reform. Their basic values according to
their charter in 2001 are: "direct
democracy, nonviolence, ecology,
solidarity, feminism and self-
determination".[4] The party is a member of
the European Green Party and Global
Greens.

History
While the Austrian Green movement began
in 1978 with the successful campaign to
prevent the opening of the nuclear power
plant in Zwentendorf (which had been
favoured by Bruno Kreisky's government),
the Green Party was born in 1984 during
the sit-in protests which prevented the
Danube power plant at Hainburg from
being built.
Federal level

In the 1986 parliamentary elections the

Green Party started off with 4.82% of all
votes cast and entered parliament with
eight National Council mandates. In the
early elections to National Council in 2002,
the Green Party nationwide received 9.47%
of votes, and won 17 mandates to the
National Council. At that time, it was the
highest number of votes garnered by any
European Green party.

When the Greens took their seats in

parliament for the first time, they chose to
appear somewhat unconventional. They
initially refused to adapt their behaviour to
that of the other parties; an example of
this is their refusal to elect a chairperson
(Klubobmann/Klubobfrau) and designated
a puppet made out of straw instead.
Delegates would appear in parliament
dressed in casual wear such as jeans and
trainers. Worldwide attention was drawn
when the Green delegate Andreas Wabl
hoisted a swastika flag on the speakers
podium in the Austrian parliament,
protesting against then Federal President
Kurt Waldheim.

After the national election in 2002, the

Greens entered into preliminary
negotiations about a possible coalition
government with the conservative ÖVP.
During negotiations, party leadership was
accused of internally black-mailing
skeptical members. Negotiations between
the two parties were subsequently called
off, after the results with the ÖVP were not
sufficient. The Green youth organisation
Grünalternative Jugend (Green Alternative
Youth or GAJ) briefly occupied the rooms
of the Green parliamentary club in the
Austrian parliament building in protest.

In 2003 three Green federal counsellors

formed their own club in the Upper House
Federal Council (Bundesrat) of Parliament.
After the 2006 elections the Greens gained
four seats and ended up with 21 seats and
became the third largest party in
Parliament, however did not have enough
mandates to form a coalition government
with either the Austrian People's Party
(ÖVP) or Social Democratic Party (SPÖ)
and became the largest opposition party,
while the SPÖ and ÖVP formed a grand
coalition government.

The party suffered from internal struggles

in 2017, losing its Youth wing (which split
away and formed an ephemeral joint list
with the Communist Party of Austria) and
later experiencing a split of Peter Pilz
faction, forming the JETZ movement.

The 2017 legislative election saw a

collapse for the party, scoring only 3.8%
and losing its representation in the
Nationalrat for the first time since 1986.
Following the results, party spokesman
Ingrid Felipe resigned from her post and
was replaced by Werner Kogler.

The party saw a revival in the 2019

European election, in which they scored
14.1% and elected 2 MEPs. These election
saw the collapse of JETZ, whose voters
have probably returned to The Greens.
The party eventually later this year,
experienced a strong recovery and
performed better well leading up to the
2019 snap legislative election, the Greens
returned to the National Council (German:
Nationalrat) with their best ever result in a
legislative election, scoring 13.9% and
electing 26 MPs, an upswing of 10.2%
from 2017.

Chairpersons since 1986

Alexander Van der Bellen, federal spokesperson of the
Green Party between 1997 and 2008. He was elected
President of Austria in 2016.

The chart below shows a timeline of the

Green chairpersons and the Chancellors of
Austria. The left green bar shows all the
chairpersons (Bundessprecher,
abbreviated as "CP") of the Green party,
and the right bar shows the corresponding
make-up of the Austrian government at
that time. The red (SPÖ), dark gray (ÖVP),
and black (Independent) 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.

Federal state level

The Green party also entered the

parliaments or assemblies (Landtag) of
Austrian federal states and communal
governments. Following is an analysis of
the party on the federal state (Länder)
level:
Burgenland

The Burgenland Greens were able to take

their seats in the federal state parliament
(Landtag) for the first time in 2000. The
party received 5.49% of the tally, which
meant two mandates. In the federal state
elections in 2005 these two seats were
reaffirmed with 5.21% received of all votes
cast.

Carinthia

In the southernmost federal state

Carinthia, different Green parties ran state
elections: the KEL/AL in 1984, Anderes
Kärnten in 1989 and 1994, and Demokratie
99 in 1999. These parties were, however,
never able to enter the federal state
assembly, since the Carinthian voting
system requires a party to win a direct
mandate in one of the four regional
election districts, which effectively means
a 10%-threshold in order to enter.
Only in 2004 were the Carinthian Greens
finally able to take their seats in the federal
state assembly, where they are
represented by cabaret artist Rolf Holub
and Barbara Lesjak. On a regional level, for
example in the federal state capital
Klagenfurt, the Carinthian Greens have
already played a political role for a longer
time. In the Klagenfurt city council, the
Greens are represented by Andrea Wulz,
Matthias Koechl, Angelika Hoedl and
Reinhold Gasper. Since the local election
in 2003, the Klagenfurt Greens were able
to take one of nine seats in the
proportional city-government, Andrea Wulz
is the town councillor for issues relating to
women, family matters and social housing
projects.

Lower Austria

In 1998 the Lower Austrian Greens were

represented with two delegates in the
federal state assembly. In the federal state
elections in 2003 the Greens received
7.22% and thus won four mandates, which
enabled them to form a parliamentary
group - called club in Austrian politics - in
the assembly. With Madeleine Petrovic, the
Lower Austrian Greens have a former
federal spokeswoman and one of the most
outspoken animal activists of Austria as
their leader (Klubobfrau). In 2005 the
Lower Austrian Greens managed to win
and take their seats in 100 municipal
assemblies and as of 2005 had four vice-
mayors. Their managing director in Lower
Austria is Thomas Huber.

Salzburg
After the federal state elections in 1989
the Salzburg state Greens had two
mandates in the Salzburg federal state
assembly, in 1994 three and in 1999 again
two. Under the leadership of Cyriak
Schwaighofer the Greens performed under
their expectations in the 2004 federal state
elections and could not achieve the
desired club status of at least three
mandates. As voter-current analyses
showed, the small increases in votes were
largely due to former voters of the Liberal
Forum (LiF), which did not run in the
Salzburg elections. In March 2009 they
were down from 8% to 7.3%, keeping their
two seats in Salzburg state's parliament.
The Bürgerliste (Citizen List) is the
common platform of the Greens in
Salzburg municipality. Like many other
autonomous municipal groups it carries its
own name.

Styria

The Styrian Greens have three delegates

sitting in the federal state assembly,
federal state spokesperson Lambert
Schönleitner, Sandra Krautwaschl, and
Lara Köck. There are two independent
Greens parties: on the one hand the
federal state party, on the other hand there
is the Die Grünen - Alternative Liste Graz
party for the federal state capital Graz. In
the Graz city-council the Greens are
represented by Sigi Binder, Lisa Rücker,
Hermann Candussi and Christina Jahn.

Styria has the largest Austrian Green youth

organization in Austria, called Grüne
Jugend Steiermark (Green Youth Styria).
Beside the Green Youth Styria there also
exists Austria's first Green students'
organization, the ECO Students.

Tyrol

In Tyrol the Greens (official name: Die

Grünen – die Grüne Alternative Tirol) were
able to win seats and placed in 1994 Eva
Lichtenberger as Austria's first Green state
councillor in a local government,
responsible for environmental affairs.

The 2003 Tyrolean Landtag (state

assembly) elections were the best ever for
the Austrian Greens, winning 15.59% of all
votes cast. In the capital city of Innsbruck
the Greens reached approximately 27% of
the vote. The Tyrolean election result also
meant that the Greens could for the first
time in history nominate a member to the
Upper House of Parliament. Since 2003
the Green delegate to the Federal Council
(Bundesrat) of Parliament is Eva Konrad,
former chairlady of the Austrian National
Union of Students (Österreichische
HochschülerInnenschaft) of the University
of Innsbruck.

The communal elections of 2004 brought

a doubling of the mandates for the
Tyrolean Greens. City elections in
Innsbruck in 2006 were a success for the
Greens and they now have 8 of the 40
seats in the parliament of Innsbruck.

In the elections to the European

parliament the Tyrolean Greens obtained
17.32%, their best result until then. Eva
Lichtenberger subsequently changed her
position to become a Member of the
European Parliament (MEP). The results in
Innsbruck were particularly good: there the
Green party received 28.28%, which made
it the strongest party, even before the
Christian-democratic ÖVP and the social-
democratic SPÖ. The Greens were able to
score on a number of issues that they
have been fighting for years. Besides the
social topics above all the problems of
transit traffic over the Alps was important.

The Tyrolean Greens have experts on

traffic issues with MEP Eva Lichtenberger,
the national speaker and club chairperson
Georg Willi and the speaker of group of
regional of Innsbruck Gerhard Fritz. The
issue of transit traffic through the Tyrol is
of great importance, because the state is
troubled by the massive transit traffic
between Germany and Italy over the
Brenner Pass. Since the Tyrol sits right in
between Germany and Italy, the bulk of the
commercial traffic passes through there.
This heavy-duty traffic has devastating
effects on the fragile alpine environment
and decreases the quality of life for the
inhabitants. Since the entry to the
European Union, Austria had to give up any
quota limitations on how much
international traffic coming from EU-
countries is allowed to pass through its
territory.
The Tyrolean Greens accused to federal
government of not having pushed for a
better deal with the European Union
concerning transit-traffic and in effect
abandoning the concerns of the citizens.
They also heavily criticised the
government's failure to negotiate a follow-
up of the 1994 transit-treaty signed with
the EU. Apart from the Greens, various
anti-transit civic movements have formed
to protest against the environmental
damages caused by the traffic.

Sitting in the National Council is Kurt

Grünewald, a Tyrolean member of
parliament, as well as the former leader of
the Greens Alexander Van der Bellen, who
has Tyrolean roots (he spent a part of his
youth there and went to high school in
Innsbruck).

The results of the Tyrolean Landtag

elections:

Results of the Greens in Tyrolean State Assembly elections

Year Percentage of votes received Mandates out of total of 36 seats

2003 15.59% (+7.57) 5 (+2)

1999 8.02% (-2.66) 3 (-1)

1994 10.68% (+2.42) 4 (+1)

1989 8.26% (+5.34) 3 (+3)

1984 2.92% 0

2003 delegates: Sepp Brugger, Maria

Scheiber, Uschi Schwarzl, Elisabeth
Wiesmüller und Georg Willi (club
chairman);
1999 delegates: Maria Scheiber, Elisabeth
Wiesmüller, Georg Willi (club chairman);
1994 delegates: Bernhard Ernst, Franz
Klug, Max Schneider und Georg Willi (club
chairman [Klubobmann]);
1989 delegates: Eva Lichtenberger, Jutta
Seethaler, Franz Klug.

Upper Austria

In 1997 the Upper Austrian Greens

successfully entered the Upper Austrian
Landtag (state assembly) for the first time.
After the state elections in 2003 (state
elections in Upper Austria are held every
six years, not five like in the other states),
the Greens were able to win even further
seats. The campaign was already aimed at
gaining ministerial seats in the state
government. Since the conservative
Christian-democratic ÖVP was the
strongest party, this would have meant for
the Greens to enter into a coalition
government with them (the so-called
"Schwarz-Grün" [Black-Green] coalition,
named after the party-colours). This new
political constellation was quite
controversial amongst party members on
both sides. In the Green party, the leader
Rudi Anschober was able to convince
party members and after some dealing
became state councillor for environmental
affairs. The Greens of the state capital of
Linz under the leadership of city councillor
Jürgen Himmelbauer were most against
this black-green project.

On the national level, the Upper Austrian

Greens were able to nominate and send to
the parliamentary Upper House Federal
Council (Bundesrat) councillor Ruperta
Lichtenecker.

Vorarlberg

The Vorarlberg Greens were the first to

ever win mandates in an Austrian state
assembly election. Already in 1984 they
were able to win 13% of the votes in the
Vorarlberg state assembly elections, which
for that time was an absolute sensation.
The charismatic alpine farmer Kaspanaze
Simma from Bregenzerwald was the
leading candidate, it was mainly due to his
efforts why the party was so instantly
successful. Because of their strength, the
Greens were allowed to form their own
parliamentary fraction (Klub), which
caused some logistical problems as the
newly constructed Landtag building in
1981 only provided space for the
traditional three parties (ÖVP, SPÖ, FPÖ),
not four. Since the traditional organic
farming sector is important in the western
Austrian regions, the Greens were able to
gain support.

In the following years the Greens were

able to consolidate their position by
gaining seats on the communal and
municipal level. Occasionally they lost
their official club status in the state
assembly, when they fared poorly from
1999 to 2004. In 2006 the speaker of the
Vorarlberg Greens was Johannes Rauch.

The results of the Vorarlberg Landtag

elections:
 Results of the Greens in the Vorarlberg State Assembly elections

Year Percentage of votes received Mandates out of total of 36 seats

2004 10,2% (+4.17) 4 (+2)

1999 6,03% (-1.73) 2 (-1)

1994 7,76% (+2.58) 3 (+1)

1989 5,18% (-7.82) 2 (-2)

19841 13,00% 4

1 Combined result of ALÖ and VGÖ

Vienna

The Viennese Greens started nominating

candidates in the Vienna Gemeinderat
(municipal council or state assembly) in
1983 and were able to enter in 1991. Over
the years they have been able to
continually gather support. A lot of
support has been coming from former
Liberal Forum voters, after the liberals
failed to enter any legislature. The
traditional strongholds in Vienna for the
Greens are the districts of Neubau (2005:
43.26%), Josefstadt (32.26%), Alsergrund
(29.43%), Mariahilf (28.97%) and Wieden
(25.14%).

In the 2001 Gemeinderat elections, the

Greens were able to win the majority of a
district for the first time. In the district of
Neubau they won 32.55% and were able to
nominate the Bezirksvorsteher (mayor of
the district). The results of 2001 also
allowed the Viennese Greens to nominate
Stefan Schennach as federal councilor to
the Upper House of Parliament
(Bundesrat). But despite the strong gains,
the Greens were not able to enter into a
coalition government with the SPÖ, since
the social-democrats were able to win an
absolute majority.

The 2004 European Parliament election

were the best for the Viennese Greens so
far. From the total tally, they received 22%,
which put them ahead of the Christian-
democratic ÖVP and placed them on
second position behind the SPÖ (37.7%).
In Neubau the Greens received 41%. They
were also able to win first place in the
districts of Wieden, Mariahilf, Josefstadt
and Alsergrund.
In the 2005 Gemeinderat elections, the
Greens were able to win votes, but missed
their target of becoming the second most
powerful party and ended up on fourth
place, right behind the right-wing Freedom
Party (FPÖ). Because of the different
weighing by districts, the Greens received
14 mandates, one more than the FPÖ.
They were also able to place another city-
councillor. In the districts, the party was
able to consolidate their holding on
Neubau, as well as win the majority of
votes in Josefstadt. With that, the Greens
were able to nominate a second Green
district-mayor. The second place was won
in the districts of Leopoldstadt,
Margareten, Mariahilf, Rudolfsheim-
Fünfhaus and Alsergrund.

The Green delegates to the Viennese

Gemeinderat or Landtag as of 2006 were:
Maria Vassilakou (club-chairlady
[Klubobfrau]), Waltraut Antonov, Heidi
Cammerlander, Christoph Chorherr, Sabine
Gretner, Susanne Jerusalem, Alev Korun,
Rüdiger Maresch, Martin Margulies, Sigrid
Pilz, Ingrid Puller, Marie Ringler, Marco
Schreuder, Claudia Sommer-Smolik. The
two city-councillors are David Ellensohn
and Monika Vana.
The 2010 results meant that the SPÖ was
unable to hold the majority of seats in the
Vienna city council and therefore had to
rule together with the Greens performing
for the first time as coalition partner. The
current vice-governor/vice-mayor of
Vienna is Maria Vassilakou.

The results of the Viennese Gemeinderat

elections:
 Results of the Greens in the Viennese State Assembly elections

Percentage of votes Mandates out of total of 100

Year Further information
received seats

1 Federal Councillor, 1 City

2010 12,64% (-1.99) 11 (-3)
Councillor

1 Federal Councillor, 2 City

2005 14,63% (+2.18) 14 (+3)
Councillors

1 Federal Councillor, 1 City

2001 12,45% (+4.51) 11 (+4)
Councillor

1996 7,94% (-1.14) 7 (±0) 1 City Councillor

1991 9,08% (+4.68) 7 (+7) 1 City Councillor

1987 4,4% (+1.9) 0

19831 2,5% (+2.5) 0

1 ran as Alternative Liste Wien (ALW)

Organisation
In 2004 the Greens had about 3,000
members nationwide, although at present
there are no uniform regulations for
membership. Apart from the members, the
Greens rely on a large number of
volunteers. The party used to function on
the principles of grassroots democracy
(Basisdemokratie) and rotation principle
(Rotationsprinzip), but this was stopped in
the course of the time. The last basic-
democratic element is the Urabstimmung,
which is a vote on any issue that can be
initiated with the petition of at least 100
members. As of 2003 however, no such
vote has taken place.

The highest body is the Federal Congress

(Bundeskongress), which convenes at
least once a year. All federal state
organisations send delegates, also the
immigrants-organisation is allowed to
send delegates as "the tenth Austrian
state". The Federal Congress decides the
electoral lists for the National Council
elections and elections to the European
parliament. The congress also elects the
federal spokesperson (BundesprecherIn).
The congress also decides the party
program and sets the party guidelines.

In the last few years, the federal executive

(Bundesvorstand) has developed into the
actual decision-making centre. It meets at
least once a week, mostly on Tuesdays,
and determines the guidelines of daily
politics. The federal executive also
decides on party finances. The extended
federal executive (Erweiterter
Bundesvorstand) consists of a smaller
number of delegates from each state and
meets at least once a month. It takes care
of the implementation of the party-
guidelines, which were set by the party
congress. It also chooses the
representatives of the party spokesperson.

The highest office in the party is that of the

federal spokesperson (Bundessprecher).
The party's federal spokesman is Werner
Kogler.

The federal state organisations

(Landesorganisationen) are organised
similarly: There are federal state meetings,
which sometimes convene as a members
meeting or a delegates meeting. Similar to
the federal executive, there are federal
state executives (Landesvorstände). The
party charter also allows for each federal
state group to hold a vote on basic issues
as well that affect the whole party.

Independently in the National Council

there also exists a Green National Council
Club (faction), which can independently
specify its guidelines. In the last years
however an increasing fusion of the work
between party and its club was noticeable.
Michaela Sburny, successor of Franz Raft
since June 2004 as the Greens' federal
chairperson, was allowed to keep her
National Council mandate. This means
she is allowed to hold two offices at the
same time, something that was frowned
upon by the Greens previously.

There are different Green or Greenish

organisations within the party and
associated with it. These include:

The Grünen Andersrum is the gay-,

lesbian and transgender organisation,
which is organised differently from state
to state, and exists in all states except
Vorarlberg and Burgenland. In Vienna,
the Grünen Andersrum are a part of the
party itself.
The Grünen SeniorInnen (DGS) is the
organisation for senior citizens. It was
founded on March 9, 2001 in Vienna.
The DGS fights for a policy more friendly
to senior citizens and their right to lead
an active, fulfilling and self-determined
life.
The Initiative Grüne MigrantInnen (IGM)
is the Green group for immigrants in
Austria. Their demands are a facilitation
of integration into life in Austria, equal
rights and equal opportunities, fight
against racism and other issues
concerning migrants.
The Grüne und Alternative Studierende
(GRAS) is a separate party which
candidates in the elections for the
Austrian National Union of Students
(Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft
– ÖH). There they are the biggest
faction, together with the Socialist
Students of Austria (Verband
Sozialistischer StudentInnen Österreichs
– VSStÖ) they form the executive
committee of the Austrian National
Union for Students.
The Grünalternative Jugend (GAJ) is the
youth organisation of the Green party.
The GAJ existed since the 1990s. It is a
member of the Federation of Young
European Greens (FYEG). The GAJ sees
itself rather as extreme left. The
organisation is subdivided into smaller
groups for each state.
The Grüne Frauenorganisation is the
organisation for women. As of 2005, it
does not exist yet in every state.
ECO Students is a Green student's
organisation, which currently only exists
in Styria.
 The Grüne Wirtschaft is the Green
economic organisation and runs in the
elections for the Economic Parliament
of the Austrian Federal Economic
Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich
– WKÖ).
The Alternative und Unabhängige
GewerkschafterInnen (AUGE/UG) is the
Green labour union. It runs in the
elections for the labour parliament of
the Austrian Labour Chamber
(Arbeiterkammer – AK).

The education and training of new Green

politicians is done by the Grüne
Bildungswerkstatt, which is an independent
voluntary association. The Grüne
Bildungswerkstatt is financed by the
republic, as regulated by Austrian law for
the equal treatment of all parliamentary
parties.

Electoral results
Parliament (Parlament)
National Council (Nationalrat)

# of % of # of
Election year +/– Government
overall votes overall vote overall seats won

0 / 183
1983 159,616 3.4 (#4) 0 Extra-parliamentary

8 / 183
1986 234,028 4.8 (#4) 8 In opposition

10 / 183
1990 225,084 4.8 (#4) 2 In opposition

13 / 183
1994 338,538 7.3 (#4) 3 In opposition

9 / 183
1995 233,208 4.8 (#5) 4 In opposition

14 / 183
1999 342,260 7.4 (#4) 5 In opposition

17 / 183
2002 464,980 9.5 (#4) 3 In opposition

21 / 183
2006 520,130 11.1 (#3) 4 In opposition

20 / 183
2008 509,936 10.4 (#5) 1 In opposition

24 / 183
2013 582,657 12.4 (#4) 4 In opposition

0 / 183
2017 192,638 3.8 (#6) 24 Extra-parliamentary

26 / 183
2019 664,055 13.9 (#4) 26 TBD

President

In the 2016 Austrian presidential election,

Alexander Van der Bellen won the election
with 50.35% of the votes and defeated
Norbert Hofer the Freedom Party of
Austria politician who received 49.65% of
the vote.[5] Van der Bellen will become the
first president from the Greens. On 1 July,
the Constitutional Court overturned the
result of the election and ordered a re-do
because of irregularities during the
counting process. On 4 December 2016
Van der Bellen won the re-run of the
second round with 53.79% of the votes to
Hofer's 46.21%.
 First round result Second round result
Election Candidate
Votes % Result Votes % Result

1986 Freda Meissner-Blau 259,689 5.5% 3rd place

1992 Robert Jungk 266,954 5.7% 4th place

1998 Gertraud Knoll 566,551 13.59% 2nd place

2004 No candidate

2010 No candidate

2016 Alexander Van der Bellen 913,218 21.3% Runner-up 2,472,892 53.8% Won

European Parliament
# of % of # of
Election year +/–
overall votes overall vote overall seats won

1 / 21
1996 258,250 6.8 (#4)

2 / 21
1999 260,273 9.3 (#4) 1

2 / 18
2004 322,429 12.9 (#4) 0

2 / 17
0
2009 284,505 9.9 (#5)
2 / 19 0

3 / 18
2014 410,089 14.5 (#4) 1

2 / 18
2019 532,194 14.1 (#4) 1

Prominent members
Among the most notable founding
members and mentors are or were
Professor Alexander Tollmann, the painter
Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the late
actor Herbert Fux, the mayor of Steyregg
Josef Buchner (the first Green mayor in
Austria – in 1987 excluded from the Green
parliamentary club), Freda Meissner-Blau
and Günther Nenning, with Nobel prize
laureate Konrad Lorenz supporting the
1984 protests at Hainburg.

Today, Green politicians include (in

alphabetical order)
Rudolf Anschober (State councillor of
Upper Austria)
Thomas Blimlinger (Mayor of the
Viennese district Neubau)
Dieter Brosz (former MP (former
member of the lower house National
Council), spokesman for education)
Christoph Chorherr (Member of the
state assembly of Vienna)
Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek (former MP,
former federal spokeswoman)
Werner Kogler (federal spokesperson)
Ulrike Lunacek (former MEP, former
spokeswoman for foreign policy)
Karl Oellinger (former MP, deputy federal
speaker)
Madeleine Petrovic (Club chairperson of
the Lower Austrian Greens)
Johannes Rauch, (Club chairperson and
state speaker for Vorarlberg)
Marie Ringler, (former Member of the
Viennese state assembly, spokeswoman
for culture and technology)
Michaela Sburny (former MP,
Spokeswoman for the economy, former
Federal Executive Manager of the party)
Terezija Stoisits (Ombudswoman,
former MP and spokeswoman for
minorities)
 Ingrid Lechner Sonnek (Club
chairperson of the Styrian Greens)
Alexander Van der Bellen (former
Federal Speaker, club chairman in the
National Council), President of Austria
Maria Vassilakou (Club chairperson of
the Viennese Greens, Vice Mayor)
Georg Willi (Club chairperson and state
speaker for the Tyrol)

Members of the European

Parliament

Mercedes Echerer (MEP from 1999–

2004)
 Eva Lichtenberger (MEP since 2004,
member of the Austrian national
convention)
Johannes Voggenhuber (MEP from
1995–2009, Member of the European
Convention, member of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights of the European
Union)
Ulrike Lunacek (2009–2017)

See also
Green party
Green politics
List of environmental organizations
Anti-nuclear movement in Austria
References
1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Austria" .
Parties and Elections in Europe.
2. "Alexander Van der Bellen: "The
European idea is worth the effort" -
News - European Parliament" .
Retrieved 3 May 2018.
3. "The Greens – The Green Alternative" .
The Democratic Society. 3 February
2014. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
4. "Grundsatzprogramm der Grünen"
[Basic Programme of the Greens]
(PDF) (in German). 20th National
Congress of the Greens. July 7–8,
 2001. Archived from the original (PDF)
on 2009-04-20.
5. "Austria far-right narrowly loses poll,
Van der Bellen elected president - BBC
News" . BBC News. Retrieved
2016-05-23.

External links
Media related to Austrian Green Party at
Wikimedia Commons

Die Grünen - official website (in

German)
Austrian Greens in the European
Parliament
Die Grünen Austria at European Greens
 The Green Parties Country Studies -
Austria

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