Meet The World’s Youngest Leader, Sebastian Kurz

Born to an Engineer and a secondary school teacher, Sebastian Kurz was raised in a Roman Catholic household in Vienna’s Meidling district. He took up studying law at the University of Vienna, but then dropped out to focus on his political career.

In 2009 Kurz was elected chairman of the youth branch of the Austrian People’s Party. He served as a member of Vienna’s city council between 2010 and 2011, where he focused on generating fairness and ensuring pensions. In April 2011, he was appointed to the newly created post of State Secretary for Integration). In the 2013 general election, Kurz was elected Member of Parliament, winning the most direct votes of any member of parliament in the election.

Kurz became Austria’s Foreign Minister in December 2013, whose portfolio was at his request widened to include Social integration. Kurz went on to become Austria’s youngest government minister since the foundation of the republic, and the youngest foreign minister in the world. He hosted the first of several rounds of negotiations on the nuclear program of Iran in Vienna, and strengthened Austria’s position as a place of dialogue. During his first year in office, Kurz served as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe until May 2014. During his tenure, he invited 30 Ministers of Foreign Affairs to Vienna in order to negotiate solutions to end the Ukrainian crisis.

As part of the Humanitarian Initiative, Kurz hosted the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in late 2014. Following his proposal, Vienna later hosted the negotiations leading to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for the nuclear program of Iran in 2015. In November that year, he was appointed to lead the European People’s Party Foreign Affairs.

He introduced the ‘Islam Act’ in 2015, prohibiting the funding of mosques by entities from abroad, paying imams’ salaries, and regulating a ‘version’ of the Quran that may be used in Austria. The law gives Muslims additional rights, such as the right to halal food and pastoral care in the military.

In May 2017, after the unexpected resignation of Reinhold Mitterlehner, Kurz was appointed as acting party leader of the Austrian People’s Party. Kurz was officially elected as party leader two months after, and the party quickly went from being on the third spot in the polls to winning elections.

According to Al Jazeera, Kurz has worked towards creating a new, right-wing image that uses moderate language in an attempt to appeal to both left-wing and far-right voters. He rebranded the party, renaming it ‘The New People’s Party’ while campaigning that it was ‘time for something new’. His main campaign message was to stop illegal immigration into Austria. As foreign minister, he played an important role in 2016 in closing down the Balkan route for refugees flowing into Europe. During a campaign rally, Kurz said, “I can also promise today that we will end illegal migration to ensure more order and security in Austria”. He wants to slash unemployment benefits for asylum seekers and workers from the EU, and reduce government’s aid to refugees. He also promised to stop tax increases. During the campaign, Kurz beat the increasingly popular far right at its own game.

In December, Sebastian Kurz was sworn in as Austria’s new Chancellor, making him Europe’s and the World’s youngest leader, at age 31. He has also been nicknamed ‘wunderwuzzi’ which means ‘whizz-kid’. “I want a new political culture, a new political style,” he said. “I want a government that has the courage and the determination to bring about real change in Austria.”