Hannes Swoboda

Dr Hannes Swoboda is the President of WIIW – Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, the President of International Institute for Peace (Vienna), and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy. He is also a leading figure in several other organisations such as the Sir Peter Ustinov Institute, FH Campus Wien – Association for the Promotion of the University of Applied Sciences, Development and Research Center in the South of Vienna, as well as the Vienna Center for Architecture. As an active member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), he was appointed to the European Parliament immediately after Austria’s accession to the EU in 1996 and led the SPÖ list as the top candidate in several elections (2004, 2009). Mr Swoboda is known as a committed parliamentarian, having served on 15 committees, 11 delegations and as rapporteur on many reports. Through his regional focus on Southeast Europe, Central Asia and Russia and his significant contributions to the fight against political extremism and the promotion of minority rights, Mr Swoboda is recognized as an expert on European integration.