Career
A former press secretary for the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Austria under Minister Willibald Pahr, Freund joined the country’s state broadcaster, ORF, in 1986 and among other posts was Washington correspondent and then presenter of the main evening news show until his retirement at the end of 2013. In January 2014, Austria’s Social Democratic Party (Sozialistische Partei Österreichs (Socialist Party of Austria)) named Freund as its top candidate for the 2014 European elections, succeeding Hannes Swoboda. In October, Freund joined the Sozialistische Partei Österreichs (Socialist Party of Austria) as a member.