Background
Van der Bellen was born in Vienna and spent his childhood in Tyrol.
economist politician university professor
Van der Bellen was born in Vienna and spent his childhood in Tyrol.
In 1962, he graduated from the Akademisches Gymnasium in Innsbruck. He studied economics at the University of Innsbruck and received a doctorate in 1970.
From 1968 to 1970 he worked as assistant at the Institut für Finanzwissenschaft of the University of Innsbruck, and from 1972 to 1974 at the Internationales Institut für Management und Verwaltung in Berlin. In 1976 he was appointed associate professor at the University of Innsbruck. In 1980, he became professor of economics at the University of Vienna.
Subsequently, he took over the chair for economics there.
From 1990 to 1994 he was dean of the faculty for social sciences and economics at the University of Vienna. Since 2010 he is Commissioner of the City of Vienna for Universities and Research, and in 2012 he left Parliament and joined the Vienna City Council.
Van der Bellen is married and has two adult sons. He is an avid fan of Scrooge McDuck comics and a self-confessed smoker.
He was not nominated by his party although they will financially support his campaign.
Since 1997 he was their federal spokesperson, and since 1999 chairman of the parliamentary club of the Greens in the National Council. He resigned after the September 2008 election, when the Greens lost votes for the first time in a decade. In all popularity rankings, Van der Bellen has always scored much higher than the political party he represents.
Austrians approve of his considerate conduct even during heated debates, his honesty, and last but not least his vast knowledge in the field of economics.
A former member of the Austrian Social Democratic Party, Van der Bellen became Member of the National Council of Austria (Nationalrat) for the Austrian Green Party in 1994.
He is an independent presidential candidate for the Austrian presidential election, 2016.