Editing Heinz Fischer

{{Short description|President of Austria from 2004 to 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Heinz Fischer
| image               = Heinz Fischer - Buchmesse Wien 2018.JPG
| caption             = Fischer in 2018
| office              = [[President of Austria]]
| chancellor          = {{ubl | [[Wolfgang Schüssel]] | [[Alfred Gusenbauer]] | [[Werner Faymann]] | [[Christian Kern]] }}
| 1blankname          = <!-- {{nowrap|[[Vice-Chancellor of Austria|Vice Chancellor]]}}
| 1namedata = [[Hubert Gorbach]] <br /> [[Wilhelm Molterer]] <br /> [[Josef Pröll]] <br /> [[Michael Spindelegger]] <br /> [[Reinhold Mitterlehner]] -->
| term_start          = 8 July 2004
| term_end            = 8 July 2016
| predecessor         = [[Thomas Klestil]]
| successor           = [[Alexander Van der Bellen]]
| office1             = [[Second President of the National Council (Austria)|Second President of the National Council]]
| term_start1         = 20 December 2002
| term_end1           = 16 June 2004
| predecessor1        = [[Thomas Prinzhorn]]
| successor1          = [[Barbara Prammer]]
| office2             = [[President of the National Council (Austria)|President of the National Council]]
| term_start2         = 5 November 1990
| term_end2           = 20 December 2002
| predecessor2        = [[Rudolf Pöder]]
| successor2          = [[Andreas Khol]]
| office3             = Minister for Science and Research
| term_start3         = 24 May 1983
| term_end3           = 21 January 1987
| chancellor3         = {{ubl | [[Fred Sinowatz]] | [[Franz Vranitzky]] }}
| predecessor3        = [[Hertha Firnberg]]
| successor3          = [[Hans Tuppy]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1938|10|9|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Graz]], [[Reichsgau Steiermark]], [[Austria under National Socialism|State of Austria]], [[Nazi Germany|German Reich]]<br>(now Graz, [[Styria]], [[Austria]])
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Independent politician|Independent]] (2004–present)
| otherparty          = [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Social Democratic Party]]<br>(until 2004)
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Margit Fischer|Margit Binder]]|1968}}
| children            = 2
| alma_mater          = [[University of Vienna]] ([[PhD]])
| awards              = [[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic]] <br /> [[Order of Prince Henry]] <br /> [[Royal Order of the Seraphim]] <br /> [[Military Order of Saint James of the Sword]]
| honorific_suffix    = [[Order of Prince Henry|GColIH]], [[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic|OMRI]], [[Royal Order of the Seraphim|RSerafO]], [[Military Order of Saint James of the Sword|GCollSE]]
| allegiance          = {{flag|Austria}}
| branch              = {{flagicon image|Roundel_of_Austria.svg|50px|Emblem of Austrian Armed Forces}} ''[[Austrian Armed Forces]]''
| serviceyears        = 1958
| unit                = ''Heerestelegrafenbataillon'' Army Signal Corps
}}
'''Heinz''' '''Fischer''' [[Order of Prince Henry|GColIH]], [[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic|OMRI]], [[Order of the Seraphim|RSerafO]], [[Military Order of Saint James of the Sword|GCollSE]] ({{IPA|de|haɪnts ˈfɪʃɐ|-|De-at Heinz Fischer.ogg}}; born 9 October 1938) is an Austrian [[politician]] who served as the [[president of Austria]] from 2004 to 2016. Fischer previously served as minister for science from 1983 to 1987 and as president of the [[National Council (Austria)|National Council of Austria]] from 1990 to 2002.<ref name="parlamentat">{{cite web |title=Präsidentinnen und Präsidenten seit 1920 {{!}} Parlament Österreich |url=https://www.parlament.gv.at/WWER/NR/PRAES/ |website=www.parlament.gv.at}}</ref> A member of the [[Social Democratic Party of Austria]] (SPÖ) until 2004, he suspended his party membership as he became president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4975&Alias=WZO&cob=483224|title=Wiener Zeitung Online – Tageszeitung für Österreich|first=Wiener Zeitung|last=Online|website=Wiener Zeitung Online – Tageszeitung für Österreich}}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.br-online.de/bayerisches-fernsehen/rundschau/oesterreich-praesidentenwahl-wahl-ID1272184893984.xml?_requestid=14 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729092050/http://www.br-online.de/bayerisches-fernsehen/rundschau/oesterreich-praesidentenwahl-wahl-ID1272184893984.xml?_requestid=14 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 July 2012 |title=Neuer alter Präsident |publisher=[[Bayerischer Rundfunk]] |date=25 April 2010 |access-date=13 November 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Christian Böhmer |author2=Michael Hammerl |title=Warum Heinz Fischer Rendi-Wagner unterstützt - aber nicht für sie abstimmt (Why Heinz Fischer supports Rendi-Wagner - but doesn't vote for her) |url=https://kurier.at/politik/inland/warum-heinz-fischer-nicht-fuer-rendi-wagner-abstimmen-kann/402423830 |website=kurier.at |publisher=k-digital Medien GmbH & Co KG |access-date=4 June 2023 |location=Wien |language=German |date=25 April 2023}}</ref>

==Early life==
Fischer was born in [[Graz]], [[Styria]], which had recently become part of [[Nazi Germany]], following [[Anschluss|Germany's annexation of Austria]] in March 1938. Fischer attended a grammar school which focused on humanities and graduated in 1956. He studied law at the [[University of Vienna]], earning a [[doctorate]] in 1961. Apart from being a politician, Fischer also pursued an academic career, and became a professor of [[political science|Political Science]] at the [[University of Innsbruck]] in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|title=External lecturers|url=https://www.uibk.ac.at/politikwissenschaft/team/externe-lehrende/|publisher=Department of Political Science, University of Innsbruck|access-date=28 February 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016070405/https://www.uibk.ac.at/politikwissenschaft/team/externe-lehrende/|archive-date=16 October 2017}}</ref>

==Political career==
[[File:Austrian federal president's re-election party, Vienna 20100425.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Re-election party in 2010]]
Fischer was a member of the Austrian parliament, the [[National Council of Austria|National Council]], from 1971, and served as its [[List of Presidents of the National Council of Austria|president]] from 1990 to 2002. From 1983 to 1987 he was minister for science in a coalition government headed by [[Fred Sinowatz]].

===First term as president===
In January 2004 Fischer announced that he would run for president to succeed [[Thomas Klestil]].  He was [[2004 Austrian presidential election|elected]] on 25 April 2004 as the candidate of the opposition [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Social Democratic Party]]. He polled 52.4 per cent of the votes to defeat [[Benita Ferrero-Waldner]], then foreign minister in the ruling conservative coalition led by the [[Austrian People's Party|People's Party]].

Fischer was sworn in on 8 July 2004 and took over office from the college of presidents of the National Council, who had acted for the president following Klestil's death on 6 July.

===Second term as president=== 
[[File:Yukio Hatoyama and Heinz Fischer at the Japanese Kantei in 2009 (1).jpg|thumb|Fischer with Japanese prime minister [[Yukio Hatoyama]] in Tokyo on 30 September 2009]]
[[File:Kirchner&Fischer.png|thumb|Fischer with Argentine president [[Cristina Fernández de Kirchner]] in the [[Casa Rosada|Pink House]].]]
[[File:Fischer Ostermayer Klug f3 Michelides.jpg|thumb|With ministers [[Josef Ostermayer|Ostermayer]] and [[Gerald Klug|Klug]] at the opening of the [[Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice]] on the [[Ballhausplatz]]]] 
[[File:Ali Khamenei receives Heinz Fischer in his house (3).jpg|thumb|Fischer with Iranian supreme leader [[Ali Khamenei]] in Tehran on 8 September 2015]]
In April 2010, Fischer was [[2010 Austrian presidential election|re-elected president of Austria]], winning a second six-year term in office with almost 79% of the votes. The [[voter turnout]] of merely 53.6% was a record low.<ref name="Austria president sweeps to victory">{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/04/2010425175334560120.html|title=Austria president sweeps to victory|date=25 April 2010|access-date=25 April 2010|publisher=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]]}}</ref> Around a third of those eligible to vote voted for Fischer, leading the conservative daily ''[[Die Presse]]'' to describe the election as an "absolute majority for non-voters".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=357759&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21 |title= Gulf Times- Qatar's top-selling English daily newspaper - Homepage|website=www.gulf-times.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602075455/http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=357759&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21 |archive-date=2 June 2010}}</ref> The reasons behind the low turnout may have been that pollsters had predicted a safe victory for Fischer (past Austrian presidents running for a second term had always won) and that the other large party, [[Austrian People's Party|ÖVP]], had not nominated a candidate of their own, and had not endorsed any of the three candidates. Prominent ÖVP members, unofficially but in public, even suggested to cast a blank vote, which 7% of the voters did.

=== Post-presidency ===
In 2017, he and former UN secretary-general [[Ban Ki-moon|Ban-Ki Moon]] co-founded the [[Ban Ki-Moon Centre for Global Citizens]], an international non-governmental organization to advance the [[Sustainable Development Goals]], headquartered in Vienna.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bundespräsident |date=2022-09-08 |title="Internationale Zusammenarbeit ist angesichts der aktuellen Herausforderungen wichtiger denn je!" |url=https://www.bundespraesident.at/aktuelles/detail/internationale-zusammenarbeit-ist-angesichts-der-aktuellen-herausforderungen-wichtiger-denn-je |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=www.bundespraesident.at |language=de-DE}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:The President of Austria, Heinz Fischer is welcomed to ESO’s premises in Santiago.jpg|thumb|Heinz Fischer is welcomed to [[European Southern Observatory|ESO]]'s premises in Santiago.<ref>{{cite news|title=President of Austria Visits ESO in Santiago|url=http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann12097/|access-date=8 December 2012|newspaper=ESO Announcements}}</ref> ]] [[File:Coat of Arms of Heinz Fischer (Order of the Seraphim).svg|thumb|Arms as knight of the [[Royal Order of the Seraphim|Seraphim]]]]
Fischer identifies himself as [[agnosticism|agnostic]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bundespraesident.at/newsdetail/artikel/es-kann-auch-das-standesamt-sein-profil/|title=Bundespräsident.at: "Es kann auch das Standesamt sein" profil|website=www.bundespraesident.at|access-date=12 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710071319/http://www.bundespraesident.at/newsdetail/artikel/es-kann-auch-das-standesamt-sein-profil/|archive-date=10 July 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> and as a [[Social democracy|social democrat]]. He and [[Margit Fischer|Margit Binder]] married in 1968. The couple have two grown children.

Despite being members of opposing parties, Fischer was close friends with former ÖVP politician [[Sixtus Lanner]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 July 2022 |title=Former ÖVP General Secretary Sixtus Lanner died at the age of 88 |url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000137435846/frueherer-oevp-generalsekretaer-sixtus-lanner-88-jaehrig-verstorben |access-date=19 July 2022 |website=[[Der Standard]] |language=de-AT}}</ref>

He enjoys [[mountaineering]] and has been president of the Austrian [[Friends of Nature]] for many years.

==Honours and awards==
=== National honours ===
==== Federal order ====
* 2004: [[File:AUT Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria - 1st Class BAR.svg|60px]] Grand Star of Honour of the [[Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria|Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria]] (Austria)

==== State honours ====
* 2008: Ring of Honour of the [[Styria|Province of Styria]]
* 2008: Freedom of the City of [[Graz]]

==== Awards ====
* 2009: Florianiplakette of the Austrian Federal Fire Association in gold

=== Foreign honours ===
==== Foreign orders ====
* 1993: [[File:Cordone di gran Croce OMRI BAR.svg|60px]] Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic]] ([[Italy]])
* 2005: [[File:PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Collar BAR.svg|60x60px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of Prince Henry]] ([[Portugal]])<ref name="Portuguese President's website">[http://www.ordens.presidencia.pt/?idc=154&list=1 Portuguese President's website]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117004213/http://www.ordens.presidencia.pt/?idc=154&list=1 |date=17 January 2013 }}</ref>
* 2005: [[File:ESP Isabella Catholic Order GC.svg|60px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of Isabella the Catholic]] ([[Spain]])
* 2006: [[File:FIN Order of the White Rose Grand Cross BAR.png|60px]] Grand Cross of the Order of the [[Order of the White Rose of Finland]] ([[Finland]])
* 2006: [[File:HUN Order of Merit of the Hungarian Rep (civ) 1class Collar BAR.svg|60px]] Grand Cross with Collar of the [[Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary]] ([[Hungary]])
* 2006: [[File:OPMM-co.svg|60px]] Collar of the [[Order pro merito Melitensi|Order ''pro merito Melitensi'']] ([[Sovereign Military Order of Malta]])
* 2007: [[File:ITA OMRI 2001 GC-GCord BAR.svg|60px]] Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy)
* 2007: [[File:Order Sint Olaf 1 kl.png|60px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of St. Olav|Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav]] ([[Norway]])
* 2007: [[File:Seraphimerorden ribbon.svg|60px]] Knight of the [[Royal Order of the Seraphim]] ([[Sweden]])
* 2009: [[File:LTU Order of Vytautas the Great with the Golden Chain BAR.svg|60px]] Grand Cross with Golden Chain of the [[Order of Vytautas the Great]] ([[Lithuania]])<ref>[http://www.lrp.lt/lt/prezidento_veikla/apdovanojimai/apdovanojimai_256/p40.html Lithuanian Presidency] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419212238/http://www.lrp.lt/lt/prezidento_veikla/apdovanojimai/apdovanojimai_256/p40.html |date=19 April 2014 }}, Lithuanian Orders searching form</ref>
* 2009: [[File:PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Grand Collar BAR.png|60x60px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of Saint James of the Sword]] (Portugal)<ref name="Portuguese President's website" />
* 2009: [[File:CZE Rad Bileho Lva 1 tridy BAR.svg|60x60px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of the White Lion]] ([[Czech Republic]])
* 2012: [[File:CHL_Order_of_Merit_GC_and_Collar.svg|60px]] Collar of the [[Order of Merit (Chile)|Order of Merit]] ([[Chile]])
* 2013: [[File:Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg|60px]] Grand Cross of the [[Legion of Honour]] ([[France]])
* 2013: [[File:Huisorde van de Gouden Leeuw van Nassau Ribbon.gif|60px]] Knight of the [[Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau]] ([[Luxembourg]])<ref>{{cite web | url = http://royautes.ek.la/henri-et-maria-teresa-en-autriche-a83173534 | title = L'actualité des royautés, "Henri et Maria Teresa en Autriche" | language = fr | access-date = 2 July 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131017094714/http://royautes.ek.la/henri-et-maria-teresa-en-autriche-a83173534 | archive-date = 17 October 2013 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
* 2014: [[File:ALB National Flag Order.png|60px]] [[National Flag Order]] ([[Albania]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://president.al/?p=17934|title=Website Zyrtar|first=Presidenti i|last=Republikes|website=president.al|access-date=3 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807202427/http://president.al/?p=17934|archive-date=7 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2015: [[File:BOL Order of Condor of the Andes - Grand Cross BAR.png|60px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of the Condor of the Andes]] ([[Bolivia]])
* 2016: [[File:BUL Order Stara planina ribbon.svg|60px]] [[Orders, decorations, and medals of Bulgaria#Orders 4|Order of the Balkan Mountains]] ([[Bulgaria]])

==== Foreign awards ====
* 2008: Honorary Doctorate of Law Faculty of the [[University of Tel Aviv]]
* 2009: Honorary Doctorate from the [[Ukrainian Academy of Sciences]]

==See also==
* [[List of national leaders]]
* [[Politics of Austria]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web | title=Rede: Zum 85. Geburtstag des österreichischen Bundespräsidenten a. D. Heinz Fischer | website=[[Der Bundespräsident]] | url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/Reden/2023/10/231005-Videobotschaft-Heinz-Fischer.html | language=de | access-date=5 October 2023}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[Rudolf Pöder]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Presidents of the National Council of Austria|President of the National Council]]|years=1990–2002}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Andreas Khol]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Klestil]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of Austria]]|years=2004–2016}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Alexander Van der Bellen]]}}
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{{Presidents of Austria}}
{{Subject bar
|portal1 = Austria
|portal2 = Politics
|portal3 = Biography
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[[Category:Grand Collars of the Order of Prince Henry]]
[[Category:Grand Collars of the Order of Saint James of the Sword]]
[[Category:Collars of the Order of the White Lion]]
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