Key facts
- Preceded by
- Norbert Hofer
- Chancellor
- Sebastian Kurz
- Succeeded by
- Eckart Ratz
- Nominated by
- Norbert Hofer
- Affiliation
- Freedom Party
- Constituency
- 3 – Lower Austria
- Born
- ( 1968-10-19 ) 19 October 1968 (age 57) , Villach , Carinthia , Austria
- Party
- Freedom Party
- Alma mater
- University of Vienna (no degree)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Part of
- First Kurz government
- Given name
- Herbert
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Austria
- Place of birth
- Villach
- Occupation
- politician
- Educated at
- University of Vienna
- Employer
- Austrian Federal Government
- Political party
- Austrian Freedom Party
- Languages spoken
- German
- Official website
- volkskanzler.at
- Image
- Herbert Kickl - Pressekonferenz am 1. Sep. 2020.JPG
- Work location
- Vienna
- Significant event
- military service
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Herbert Kickl
- date of birth
- 1968-10-19
- name in native language
- Herbert Kickl
- candidacy in election
- 2019 Austrian legislative election
- P10632
- Herbert Kickl
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Herbert Kickl (born 19 October 1968) is an Austrian politician who has been leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) since June 2021. He previously served as minister of the interior from 2017 to 2019 and general-secretary of the FPÖ from 2005 to 2018. In the 2024 Austrian legislative election, the FPÖ became Austria's strongest party for the first time in history. Kickl negotiated with the Austrian People's Party in early 2025 but was unable to form a government. He is the leader of the opposition in the National Council. Kickl advocates a Fortress Austria and remigration. Some political analysts believe he has radicalized his party.
Kickl rose to prominence as a campaign director for the FPÖ and speechwriter for Jörg Haider during the 2000s. After the party split in 2005, he became general-secretary and one of its key leaders. In 2017, he was appointed federal Minister for the Interior in the first Kurz government. In February 2018, he ordered a controversial raid on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, seizing their data on right-wing extremist groups including the new right Identitarian Movement of Austria close to the FPÖ. He was dismissed from office in May 2019 in the wake of the Ibiza affair, though he was not personally implicated. He returned to the National Council, where he has been leader of the FPÖ faction since 2019.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Herbert Kickl” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.