Herbert Kickl

Herbert Kickl
Kickl in 2020
Chair of the Freedom Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 June 2021
Preceded byNorbert Hofer
Minister of the Interior
In office
18 December 2017 – 22 May 2019
ChancellorSebastian Kurz
Preceded byWolfgang Sobotka
Succeeded byEckart Ratz
General Secretary of the Freedom Party
In office
23 April 2005 – 12 January 2018
Serving with Karlheinz Klement, Harald Vilimsky
Preceded byUwe Scheuch
Succeeded byMarlene Svazek
Member of the National Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 October 2019
Nominated byNorbert Hofer
AffiliationFreedom Party
In office
24 May 2019 – 22 October 2019
Constituency3 – Lower Austria
In office
30 October 2006 – 18 December 2017
Nominated byHeinz-Christian Strache
AffiliationFreedom Party
Personal details
Born (1968-10-19) 19 October 1968 (age 56)
Villach, Carinthia, Austria
Political partyFreedom Party
Children1

Herbert Kickl (born 19 October 1968) is an Austrian politician who has been leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) since June 2021. He previously served as minister of the interior from 2017 to 2019 and general-secretary of the FPÖ from 2005 to 2018.[1] He has been described as a far-right politician.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Kickl calls himself Volkskanzler[8][9][10] (The People‘s Chancellor) and advocates a Fortress Austria[11][12] and Remigration.[13][14]

Kickl rose to prominence as a campaign director for the FPÖ and speechwriter for Jörg Haider during the 2000s. After the party split in 2005, he became general-secretary and one of its key leaders. In 2017, he was appointed federal Minister for the Interior in the first Kurz government. In February 2018, he ordered a controversial raid on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, seizing their data on right-wing extremist groups including the new right Identitarian Movement of Austria close to the FPÖ. He was dismissed from office in May 2019 in the wake of the Ibiza affair, though he was not personally implicated. He returned to the National Council, where he has been leader of the FPÖ faction since 2019.

  1. ^ "Herbert Kickl". National Council (in German). 22 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Austrian election: Kickl's far right 'opens new era' with unprecedented victory". BBC News. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  3. ^ Tanno, Sophie (28 September 2024). "Austria's far-right FPÖ party is the frontrunner in Sunday's election. How did it get here?". CNN. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  4. ^ Brady, Kate (29 September 2024). "Austrian far right set to win national election, in postwar first". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  5. ^ Rothwell, James (29 September 2024). "Far-Right seeks path to power after leading in Austrian election". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  6. ^ "How did the far right win in Austria? To understand, look to its global networks | Austria | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Victory in Austria is another step in far right's march across Europe | The far right | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  8. ^ Bartlau, Christian; Gasser, Florian (12 December 2023). "Herbert Kickl: "Volkskanzler" will er werden". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  9. ^ "FPÖ-Bundesparteiobmann Herbert Kickl will Volkskanzler sein | Wiener Zeitung". www.wienerzeitung.at (in German). Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Die Geschichte des Begriffs "Volkskanzler": Von Hitler bis Kickl". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  11. ^ Vienna, Peter Conradi (21 September 2024). "Herbert Kickl, the hard-right Putin ally plotting 'Fortress Austria'". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  12. ^ Kurmayer, Nikolaus J. (16 November 2023). "Far-right strongman Kickl commits to project 'fortress Austria'". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Austria far right calls for EU 'remigration' commissioner". www.euractiv.com. 12 June 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  14. ^ "In Austria, the far-right leader, Herbert Kickl, is campaigning for 'remigration'". 28 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.