Harald Vilimsky

Harald Vilimsky MEP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of the European Parliament for Austria
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2014
Personal details
Born	(1966-07-22) 22 July 1966 (age 58) Vienna, Austria
Political party	Freedom Party of Austria
Children	1

Harald Vilimsky (born 22 July 1966) is an Austrian far-right^[1] politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Austria. He is a member of the Freedom Party of Austria, part of the Patriots for Europe.

Vilimsky's mother was a nurse and raised him together with his stepfather, an insurance broker, in the Vienna district of Favoriten. He never met his biological father, and was 16 years old when his mother died. After lower school, he attended a commercial academy and graduated there. He then studied economics and dropped out. From 1988 to 1990 he attended a university course in public relations at the University of Vienna.^[2]

After completing his university course, Vilimsky worked in various positions as a press officer. First, he worked for the Road Safety Board for a year, then from 1991 Vilimsky was press officer in the FPÖ National Council club. In 1995, the then FPÖ regional party chairman Rainer Pawkowicz brought him into the club of the FPÖ state parliament and municipal council faction in Vienna City Hall. There he met his future mentor and friend Heinz-Christian Strache. After Strache was elected as Vienna FPÖ chairman in March 2004, Harald Vilimsky became regional party secretary of the Vienna FPÖ and became key to many of the party's election programmes.^[3][4]

From November 2005, Vilimsky was a member of the Federal Council and thus the first new federal political representative of the FPÖ after the split between the FPÖ and the BZÖ. After the 2006 Austrian legislative election, Vilimsky would be elected to the National Council. He would be re-elected in 2008 and 2013.^[5]

In December 2008, Vilimsky caused a stir with a controversial self-experiment, in which a journalist also took part. In the presence of an emergency doctor, he allowed prison guards to shoot him with an electric shock gun, which is used in prisons to temporarily incapacitate aggressive prisoners. This was to convince the public that the device, according to Vilimsky, is harmless. ^[6]

In 2009, Vilimsky commented on Operation Cast Lead and called "the silence of the Western community of states regarding Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip embarrassing." They were "lobby organizations of the Israelis" and condemned "the death toll on a civilian population differently, namely not at all, when it comes from Israel." ^[7]

In the 2014 European elections, Vilimsky was presented as joint top candidate for the FPÖ with Andreas Mölzer. After Mölzer quit due to remarks he had made^[8], Vilimsky would be the sole top candidate. Under Vilimsky, the FPÖ would gain 2 seats in the European parliament and become the third largest Austrian delegation to the European Parliament.^[9]

In 2015, the FPÖ and Vilimsky would form the Europe of Nations and Freedom group with other right-wing parties, such as the French National Rally and Italian Lega Nord.^[10][11]

During the coalition negotiations between the ÖVP and the FPÖ after the 2017 Austrian legislative election, Vilimsky, along with Johann Gudenus, was named as one of the FPÖ politicians who would be rejected as ministers by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. ^[12]

In July 2018, Vilimsky caused a stir when he accused EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker of alcoholism. Juncker was seen staggering and weak on his feet at the NATO summit on 11 and 12 July 2018. Vilimsky and other European right-wing populist politicians (including those from the German AfD ) accused him of being drunk and called for Juncker's immediate resignation. According to Vilimsky, Juncker was making Europe "a laughing stock" with this behaviour.^[13] In the 2019 European elections, the FPÖ would fall to three seats as Vilimsky was re-elected.

After the Europe of Nations and Freedom group was succeeded by the Identity and Democracy group, Vilimsky would continue to lead the FPÖ as part of the ID group.^[14][15]

During the campaign for the 2024 European elections, Vilimsky would refer to President Van der Bellen as Lena Schilling's "green sugar daddy".^[16][17] As lead candidate, Vilimsky would lead the FPÖ to win its first ever nationwide election in Austria, with 25.4% of the vote and 6 seats in the European parliament.^[18]

Following the 2024 European elections, as most of the ID member parties moved to join the new Patriots for Europe group (with the main exception of the Czech SPD, which would join the ESN group), Vilimsky would lead the FPÖ delegation to join the Patriots for Europe.^[19] Vilimsky would become one of the vice-presidents of the Patriots group.^[20]

In July 2024, Vilimsky described the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola and the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, as a "trio of political witches who are leading this continent into the abyss and we will make them feel the whip." Vilimsky's comments were condemned by all other major Austrian political parties. ^[21][22][23]

Vilimsky is married and has a daughter.^[2]

Media related to Harald Vilimsky at Wikimedia Commons

• Personal profile of Harald Vilimsky in the European Parliament's database of members