Contributors

Erhard Busek, Austrian Vice Chancellor ret., Federal Minister for Science and Research ret., and Federal Minister for Education ret. is Jean Monnet Professor ad personam, Chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe and Coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative. He began his professional career in 1964 as legal adviser to the association of the parliamentarians of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). He then served as Secretary General of the Austrian Federation for Trade and Commerce (1972-1976). In 1975, he was appointed Secretary General of the ÖVP and was elected Member of Parliament later that year. In 1976 he became City Councellor and was elected Deputy-Mayor of Vienna in 1978 (until 1987). He was appointed Minister for Science and Research in April 1989. From 1994 until May 1995 he was Minister for Education. He was elected Chairman of the ÖVP in 1991 and served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 1991 until 1995. In 2000, he was appointed as Special Representative of the Austrian Government on EU-Enlargement. He served in that position until December 2002. He is Dr. hc. of the Universities of Krakow, of Bratislava, of Brasov and Czernowitz, of Liberec and of Webster-St. Louis University Vienna. He was Rector of the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg from 2004 until 2011, Visiting Professor at Duke University, NC, USA and Honorary Senator at the University of Agriculture in Vienna. He was also teaching at the University Innsbruck and the University of Vienna. From 2002 until 2008, he served as Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. From 2000 until 2012, he was President of the European Forum Alpbach.