View source for Peter Pilz

{{Short description|Austrian politician}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Peter Pilz
| image = Peter Pilz.jpg
| office = [[National Council (Austria)|Member to the National Council]]
| term_start = 10 June 2018
| term_end = 29 September 2019
| nominator = 
| 1blankname = Affiliation
| 1namedata = [[Peter Pilz List]]
| term_start1 = 29 October 1999
| term_end1 = 8 November 2017
| nominator1 = [[Johannes Voggenhuber]]
| 1blankname1 = Affiliation
| 1namedata1 = [[The Greens – The Green Alternative|The Greens]]
| term_start2 = 17 December 1986
| term_end2 = 8 December 1991
| nominator2 = 
| 1blankname2 = Affiliation
| 1namedata2 = [[The Greens – The Green Alternative|Green Alternative]]
| office3 = Chairman of the [[Peter Pilz List]]
| term_start3 = 26 July 2017
| term_end3 = 20 August 2018
| predecessor3 = Office established
| successor3 = [[Maria Stern (singer-songwriter)|Maria Stern]]
| office4 = [[Spokesman of the Green Party]]
| term_start4 = 1992
| term_end4 = 1994
| predecessor4 = [[Johannes Voggenhuber]]
| successor4 = [[Madeleine Petrovic]]
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|1|22|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Kapfenberg]], [[Styria]], Austria
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| party = [[JETZT (party)|JETZT]]; formerly known as Peter Pilz List (since 2017)
| otherparty = [[The Greens – The Green Alternative|The Greens]] (before 2017)
| spouse = 
| children = 
| education = 
| alma_mater = 
}}
'''Peter Pilz''' (born 22 January 1954) is an [[Austria]]n [[politician]] ([[Peter Pilz List|JETZT]]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jenny|first=Marcelo|date=2019|title=Austria: Political Developments and Data in 2018|journal=European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook|language=en|volume=58|issue=1|pages=21–29|doi=10.1111/2047-8852.12268|issn=2047-8852|doi-access=free}}</ref> From 1986 to 2017, he was a member of the [[Austrian Green Party]].

==Political career==
Born in [[Kapfenberg]], [[Styria]], Pilz was a member of the Austrian Parliament (''Nationalrat'') between 1986 and 1991, 1999 and 2017, and between 2018 and 2019. From 1992 to 1994 he also was federal [[spokesperson]] of the Greens. His main area of interest is legal matters and [[political corruption]]. Commonly known wearing a black jacket and a red, grey or green T-shirt, he was the first Austrian politician to keep a [[weblog|blog]] on the Internet.

In January 2005, Pilz made international news when he called for [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] to be stripped of his Austrian [[citizenship]].  As [[Governor of California]], Schwarzenegger had refused to intercede in the [[Execution (legal)|execution]] of a convicted murderer, [[Donald Beardslee]]. Pilz pointed to an Austrian law which prohibits any Austrian from taking part in, or ordering, an execution.

A few months later, Pilz claimed that a person whom he called "Zeuge D" ([[German language|German]]: ''"witness D"'') has information that [[Iranian president]] [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]] had participated in the murder of 3 [[Kurd]]s in Vienna in 1989. According to him the Austrian police had already contacted the witness, who supposedly lived in [[France]], but this was denied by the Austrian Ministry of Justice.

On 25 July 2017, with the disappointment of Green leadership and lack of responses in refugee and migrant crisis, he announced his independent campaign for the [[2017 Austrian legislative election|elections to the Austrian parliament in the autumn]]. He headed the ''[[Peter Pilz List]]'', a group of intellectuals, artists and entrepreneurs, critical toward the establishment. His new party cleared the 4 percent threshold for entering parliament in the election and handed a major defeat to the Greens, whose support fell to 3.9 percent from more than 12 percent in 2013.<ref>Cathy Buyck (November 4, 2017), [https://www.politico.eu/article/peter-pilz-list-party-greens-austrian-party-leader-resigns-over-harassment-accusations/ Austrian party leader resigns over harassment accusations] ''[[Politico Europe]]''.</ref>

On 4 November 2017, after sexual harassment allegations came to light, Pilz announced that he would not take his seat in the National Council, and the seat was assumed by [[Martha Bissmann]].<ref name="APPilzResign">{{cite news|title=Austrian politician resigns amid sexual harassment claims|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/austrian-politician-resigns-amid-sexual-harassment-claims/|agency=Associated Press|date=4 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="Temel">{{cite news|author=Peter Temel|title=Vorwurf der sexuellen Belästigung: Peter Pilz tritt zurück|url=https://kurier.at/politik/inland/vorwurf-der-sexuellen-belaestigung-peter-pilz-tritt-zurueck/296.133.057|newspaper=Kurier|date=4 November 2017|accessdate=4 November 2017}}</ref><ref>''[http://diepresse.com/home/innenpolitik/5314544/Liste-Pilz-haelt-Krisensitzung-ab-Bissmann-uebernimmt-Mandat Liste Pilz hält Krisensitzung ab, Bißmann übernimmt Mandat.]'' In: ''DiePresse.com.'' 4.&nbsp;November 2017, viewed 6.&nbsp;November 2017.</ref> On 22 May 2018, Pilz and his party announced that he would return to parliament before summer, as the trial against him had ended.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/politik/innenpolitik/Ermittlungen-gegen-Peter-Pilz-eingestellt;art385,2903653|title = Ermittlungen gegen Peter Pilz eingestellt}}</ref>

==Other activities==
* [[SK Rapid Wien]], member of the board of trustees<ref>[https://www.parlament.gv.at/POOL/SWBRETT/ZUSD/BezBegrBVGPar9-NR.pdf 2016 Transparency Report] [[National Council (Austria)|National Council]].</ref>

==References==
<references />

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.peterpilz.at Pilz's political diary] {{in lang|de}}

{{Austrian Green Leaders}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilz, Peter}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Austrian male bloggers]]
[[Category:Critics of Islamism]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the 17th National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:Members of the 18th National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:Members of the 21st National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:Members of the 22nd National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:Members of the 23rd National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:Members of the 24th National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:Members of the 25th National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:Members of the 26th National Council (Austria)]]
[[Category:People from Kapfenberg]]
[[Category:Sex scandals in Austria]]
[[Category:The Greens (Austria) politicians]]


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