Everything about Benita Ferrero-waldner totally explained
Benita Ferrero-Waldner (born
September 5 1948) is the
European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy and an
Austrian
diplomat and
politician. She is a member of the conservative
Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).
Career
Born in
Salzburg, she took her
matura exams in 1966 and then studied law, receiving a
doctorate from the
University of Salzburg in 1970. Until 1983 she worked in the private sector. Only in 1984 did she enter the diplomatic service. One of her most influential positions was
Chef de protocole for
Secretary General Boutros-Ghali at the
United Nations in
New York.
From 1995 until 2000 she served as
Staatssekretärin in two governments led by
Social Democrats Franz Vranitzky and
Viktor Klima. When
Wolfgang Schüssel became
Chancellor of Austria early in 2000 he made Ferrero-Waldner his Minister for Foreign Affairs, a position she held until October 2004, when she was succeeded by
Ursula Plassnik.
After the
G8-Summit in
Genoa (July 2001), Ferrero-Waldner was criticized by members of the
Publixtheatre Caravan for allegedly not helping them after they'd been arrested by
Italian police.
In January 2004 it was announced that Ferrero-Waldner would run for
Federal President to succeed
Thomas Klestil in July 2004. Her candidature was supported by the
Austrian People's Party; her only opponent was
Heinz Fischer. However, she
lost the election on April 25.
In late July 2004 Ferrero-Waldner was nominated the successor of
Franz Fischler as Austria's
European Commissioner. She took office on November 22. Her portfolio is Foreign Affairs and European Neighbourhood Policy.
As the EU's External Affairs Commissioner, Ms. Ferrero-Waldner is credited with being the key diplomat in the July 24, 2007 release of
5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor imprisoned by Libya. They had been held more than 8 years on charges of purposefully infecting children with HIV, and have continued to profess their innocence. The commissioner made many trips to Libya and met with the prisoners regularly. She also worked to improve conditions for children infected with HIV/Aids.
Sri Lankan civil war
Ferrero-Waldner met with officials from the
United States,
Japan, and
Norway in
Brussels,
Belgium on
September 12, 2006 to discuss the
Sri Lankan civil war. She announced that the officials had gotten "signals from the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, to come to talks unconditionally. The meeting should take place urgently, at the beginning of October in
Oslo."
Ferrero-Waldner acknowledged that brokering peace was a "huge challenge, we want both sides back to the table." She also revealed that the EU plans to send
human rights experts to Sri Lanka to assist the government.
[
]Private life
From 1974 until 1983 Waldner was married to Wolfgang Sterr, a Bavarian high school teacher. However, their marriage ended in divorce. In 1993 Waldner married Francisco Ferrero Campos, a lecturer in Spanish and Latin American literature at the University of Vienna.
After her previous marriage had finally been annulled Ferrero-Waldner married her husband again in church in December 2003. Although the wedding was a private ceremony, the news was immediately leaked to the press. This, some of Ferrero-Waldner's critics claimed, was done intentionally to attract potential voters as the Austrian Federal President is directly elected and Austria is a predominantly Roman Catholic country rooted in tradition. The couple don't have any children.
Ferrero-Waldner's determinedly friendly smile has earned her the nickname Ferrero-Küsschen ("Ferrero Kiss"), after a sweet similar to Ferrero Rocher, produced by Ferrero for the Austrian, Germand and Swiss markets.
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