Lockl was elected with 34 votes with one abstention from the FPÖ Foundation Council Niki Haas. The former Greens politician sits on the Foundation Board for the Greens and has recently been traded as a favorite for the function. The appointment of the Viennese also fulfills the side letter agreement between the governing parties that became public in January, which attributed this post to the Greens.
Lothar Lockl is the managing partner of the strategy and communication consulting agency Lockl & Keck GmbH. In 2016 he led the ultimately successful election campaign for Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. Lockl’s agency’s customers include the environment and tourism ministries, for whose orders several hundred thousand euros flowed to the agency.
In addition to the Federal President, Lockl himself advises the Green Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler. Critics see this as a massive conflict of interest with his current role. From 2000 to 2009, the father of a son (with the ORF editor and presenter Claudia Reiterer, from whom he has lived separately since 2019) held management positions in the Greens. With the government reshuffle in 2020, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees.
Source: Nachrichten
