Politician, lawyer; chair of the Institut für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa in Vienna and the European Forum Alpbach; coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI); in 1978–1987 deputy mayor of Vienna; in 1991–1995 vice-chancellor of Austria; former minister of education and scientific research and minister of education; in 2000–2001 special representative of the Austrian government for European Union enlargement; chair of the Programme Council for the International Cultural Centre Fund in Krakow, the EU-Russia Centre, and ICEUR. He is also the author of several publications from the field of politics, in particular Central European politics.