Ursula Plassnik

Ursula Plassnik
Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev
Foreign Minister of Austria
In office 20 October 2004 – 2 December 2008
Chancellor	Wolfgang Schüssel Alfred Gusenbauer
Preceded by	Benita Ferrero-Waldner
Succeeded by	Michael Spindelegger
Personal details
Born	May 23, 1956 (1956-05-23) Klagenfurt, Austria
Political party	ÖVP
Profession	politician, diplomat
Religion	Lutheranism

Ursula Plassnik (born May 23, 1956 in Klagenfurt) is an Austrian diplomat and politician. She was Foreign Minister of Austria between October 2004 and December 2008.

Early life and career

Plassnik is from the Austrian state of Carinthia and grew up in a social democratic family. From 1971 to 1972 she was an exchange student at the Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia, United States. She received a law degree from the University of Vienna in 1977 and a postgraduate Certificate of Advanced European Studies (equivalent to a master's degree) from the College of Europe in Bruges. Subsequently, she worked in different positions in the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs until 1997. Until that time she was considered to be politically neutral or even social-democratic.

On July 1, 1997 she was chosen by Wolfgang Schüssel, who was Austrian vice-chancellor at that time, to become his cabinet chief. In 2000 she refused an offer to work for the Council of Europe in order to stay in Austria and help Wolfgang Schüssel when he became Austrian Chancellor in a coalition government with the Austrian Freedom Party. She is considered to be a close friend and confidante to Schüssel.

She remained cabinet chief in Schüssel's government until January 15, 2004, when she became Austria's ambassador to Switzerland. Recently, Ursula Plassnik’s application for the position as secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been vetoed by Turkey, because of her opposition to that country's bid to join the European Union.

As foreign minister

She was appointed foreign minister on October 18, 2004, and sworn in on October 20 succeeding Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who resigned to become a European commissioner. She joined the Austrian People's Party after receiving the offer to become foreign minister. On December 2, 2008 she was succeeded by Michael Spindelegger.

Personal life

Plassnik has been married twice. Her first marriage was to Georg Posch, who as social democrat became secretary general of the Austrian Parliament. Her second marriage was to Swiss diplomat Gérard Stoudmann. She stands out in public due to her height, at 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) tall.

External links

• The Foreign Minister at the Wayback Machine (archived October 15, 2007), The Austrian Foreign Ministry homepage

Political offices
Preceded by Benita Ferrero-Waldner	Foreign Minister of Austria 2004 – 2008	Succeeded by Michael Spindelegger
Preceded by Jack Straw United Kingdom	President of the Council of the European Union First-Half 2006	Succeeded by Erkki Tuomioja Finland