Political career

Member of the Austrian Parliament (Nationalrat) from 1971 to 1999, Vice-Chairman of the parliamentary group of the Austrian People's Party from 1986 to 1994, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Social Affairs from 1978 to 1989, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Health from 1989 to 1994, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice in 1995, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Housing and Construction from 1995 to 1999.

Council of Europe: Member of the Austrian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly since 1991. Chairman of the Group of the European People's Party-Christian Democrats since 1996, Member of the Bureau, President of the Sub-Committee on International Economic Relations, Vice-President of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Rapporteur on various issues including monitoring of member states (Romania, Slovakia, Turkey), Vice-President of the Assembly in 1996, elected Secretary General June 1999 (end of mandate August 2004)

From September 2004:
Board Member of the Crans Montana Forum, Monte Carlo
Secretary General of the Maison de la Méditerranée, Naples
President of Bioetica (Biannual European Forum on Bioethics), Strasbourg

Publications

Christian Unions in Austria, Europa-Verlag Vienna, 1975
The Social Consequences of Inflation, Verlag Orac Vienna, 1988
A Union Makes History: 100 Years of the Christian Social Workers’ Union, Holzhausen Vienna, 1994.
Numerous articles on issues concerning social, health, housing and general political affairs.
Der Traum Europa, Springer Verlag 2003; The European Dream, Continuumpress London-New York 2004 (also published in Italian, Serbian and Russian).