Gerhart Holzinger

Gerhart Holzinger (born 12 June 1947 in Gmunden, Upper Austria) is an Austrian jurist, educator, and career civil servant. He was appointed to the Austrian Constitutional Court in 1995, serving as its president from 2008 until his retirement in 2017.

Early life

Gerhart Holzinger was born on 12 June 1947 in Gmunden.

Holzinger comes from a working-class family and grew up in modest circumstances. His father worked for a local utility company; his mother was a homemaker. Young Holzinger was originally not expected to obtain higher education. He dreamt of becoming a forester. After completing elementary school, he was enrolled in the local hauptschule, the type of middle school attended by children destined not for high school but for trade school or manual labor. It came as a surprise to the family when Holzinger's mathematics teacher suggested that the boy be sent to gymnasium to receive a more extensive secondary education. Holzinger graduated from gymnasium in 1966, the first person in his wider family to obtain matura and thus to earn the right to attend university.

In 1975, Holzinger left Salzburg for Vienna, joining the Constitutional Service in the Chancellery, an office that assists ministries in drafting legislation and in evaluating the constitutionality of draft statutes drafted elsewhere. By 1984, he had risen to head of the Service. In 1992, he was granted the title of Head of Section , the highest rank an Austrian civil servant can hold.

When Karl Korinek resigned the presidency of the Constitutional Court for health reasons in 2008, the Gusenbauer government nominated Holzinger as Korinek's successor. President Heinz Fischer affirmed the appointment without hesitation, effective from 1 May. Holzinger's appointment was uncontroversial.

Having reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, Holzinger left the court on 31 December 2017.

Politics

Holzinger is considered conservative. He has never joined any political party but has been a member of the Cartellverband since his student days.

In 1990, Josef Riegler of the Austrian People's Party considered Holzinger as a potential successor for Egmont Foregger, the outgoing minister of justice at the time.

In 1992, on the other hand, the Social Democrats considered Holzinger as a possible president of the Court of Auditors . His 1999 appointment to the Human Rights Council was due to Karl Schlögl, minister of the interior for the Social Democrats, but was confirmed for a second term in 2002 by Ernst Strasser, minister of the interior for the People's Party.

His nomination to the Constitutional Court was referred to as "obvious" and "a clear decision" by Social Democrats and the People's Party alike and also enjoyed the support of two out of the three oppositional parties at the time.

An expert on fundamental rights questions, 1995: Alexis de Tocqueville Award of the European Institute of Public Administration 2017: Grand Order of Merit with Star and Sash of the Federal Republic of Germany 2017: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary 2017: Decoration of Merit of the Province of Salzburg 2018: Golden Pin of Honour of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber

Selected publications