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Helmut Krünes (1941 – )

FPÖ General Secretary 1978-1980

Member of the National Council 1986-1988

Federal Minister for Defence 1986-1987

Provincial Member of Parliament, Lower Austria 1988-1989

 

Helmut Krünes was FPÖ general secretary from 1978 to 1979. During the 1980s SPÖ-FPÖ coalition government, he served as Federal Minister for Defence and as a National Council MP. At the 1988 Lower Austrian provincial election, he was the Freedom Party’s lead candidate, under whose direction the party succeeded in entering the provincial parliament for the very first time.

Short biography

Helmut Krünes was born in Vienna on 30 March 1941. He attended the Vienna University of Technology, where he studied technical chemistry. He completed his diploma studies in 1967 and in 1969 followed this up with a doctorate.

Helmut Krünes was politically active whilst still a student; during the 1963/64 academic year, he was chairman of the Ring of Freedom Party Students and from 1960 to 1969, he represented the Vienna University of Technology in the Austrian National Union of Students.

After his studies, the trained chemist worked at Farbwerke Hoechst AG; at the building materials company Wienerberger, where he was also a member of the managing board; as a director of the road construction company Stuag; as an independent management consultant; as a shareholder of Maschinenfabrik Liezen und Gießerei GmbH, and as managing director of ARC Austrian Research Center GmbH in Seibersdorf. Krünes was co-founder in 1979 of the Austrian Managers Association (Wirtschaftsforum der Führungskräfte - WdF).

Within the FPÖ, Krünes was active on many advisory bodies and belonged to groups such as the Attersee Circle, the Freedom Party’s liberal discussion group founded in 1971. From 1978 to 1979, he was FPÖ general secretary and in 1980 became an assembly member of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce.

From 1986 to 1988 Krünes was a member of the National Council. He succeeded Friedhelm Frischenschlager as Minister of Defence in 1986, while the SPÖ-FPÖ government was led by Sinowatz, and remained throughout the first Vranitzky government, which lasted until 1987.

With Krünes as its lead candidate, the Freedom Party entered the Lower Austrian parliament for the very first time in 1988. From 1988 to 1989, he held a seat in the Lower Austrian parliament and was also the chairman of the FPÖ group there.

Main political positions

1960–1969

Representative in the Austrian National Union of Students

1963-1964

Chairman of the Ring of Freedom Party Students

1978-1980

FPÖ General Secretary

1980

Assembly member, Chamber of Commerce for Lower Austria

1986-1987

Federal Minister for Defence

1986-1988

Member of the National Council

1986-1988

Deputy FPÖ Federal Party Chairman

1988–1989

Provincial Member of Parliament, Lower Austria

1988–1989

Chairman, FPÖ Parliamentary Party in Lower Austrian Provincial Parliament

2000-2002

Deputy Provincial Party Chairman, FPÖ Lower Austria

Weblinks

Helmut Krünes on the web pages of the Austrian Parliament:

https://www.parlament.gv.at/WWER/PAD_00990/index.shtml

Helmut Krünes on the web pages of the Lower Austrian Provincial Parliament:

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Helmut Krünes – NÖ Landtag (noe-landtag.gv.at)

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