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Dr. Karin Kneissl

The Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs

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On 18 December 2017, Dr Karin Kneissl was appointed Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria.

Karin Kneissl was born in 1965 in Vienna. She studied law and Arab studies at the University of Vienna. She also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Amman, the University of Urbino and was a Fulbright scholar at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Karin Kneissl is also a graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in Paris.

From 1990 to 1998 Karin Kneissl held a number of posts in the Austrian diplomatic service, including in the cabinet of then foreign minister Dr Alois Mock, in the Office of International Law and at the Austrian embassies in Paris and Madrid.

Since 1998 Karin Kneissl has worked as an independent lecturer in the areas of  international law, Middle Eastern history and the energy market at various universities, including the University of Vienna; the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna; the European Business School in the Rheingau, Germany; the International Centre for Human Sciences in Byblos, Lebanon; Saint-Joseph University in Beirut; as well as at the Austrian Armed Forces National Defence Academy, Vienna and Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria.

Karin Kneissl has also worked since 1998 as an independent commentator and correspondent for numerous German and English-speaking print media, as well as for the Austrian state broadcaster ORF. She has authored a large number of books and publications. Some of her recent publications are: Wachablöse: Auf dem Weg in eine chinesische Weltordnung (Changing of the Guard: On the Path to a Chinese World Order) 2017, Mein Naher Osten (My Middle East) 2014, Prinz Eugen – vom Außenseiter zum Genie Europas (Prince Eugene – From Outsider to Europe’s Genius) 2014, Die Zersplitterte Welt – was von der Globalisierung bleibt (The Shattered World – What Remains of Globalisation) 2013, as well as Testosteron Macht Politik (Testosterone Power Politics) 2012.

Karin Kneissl is co-founder and vice president of Whistleblowing Austria as well as vice president of the Society for Politico-Strategic Studies, STRATEG. She has worked in local politics in her home community of Seibersdorf and plays an active role in numerous non-profit organisations in Austria and Lebanon.

Karin Kneissl speaks various foreign languages: Arabic, English, French, Hebrew (basic), Italian, Hungarian (basic) and Spanish.