10 Facts About Michael Linhart

Michael Linhart was born on 31 August 1958 in Ankara, Turkey, where his father was a diplomat at the Austrian embassy.

Michael Linhart attended high school in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg and graduated in 1976.

In 1986, Michael Linhart joined the diplomatic service in the Foreign Ministry and was deployed to the Austrian Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Michael Linhart then was promoted to counsellor in 1992 and was sent to Zagreb, Croatia where he remained until 1995.

Michael Linhart returned to Vienna in August 1995 as the private secretary to the Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schussel.

When Schussel became Chancellor in 2000, Michael Linhart was appointed his advisor on foreign policy as well as the Austrian Ambassador to Syria.

On 2 December 2013, Michael Linhart was appointed the Secretary-General in the Foreign Ministry but was replaced on 1 June 2018.

Michael Linhart then became the Austrian Ambassador to France in summer 2018, replacing the retiring Walter Grahammer.

On 11 October 2021, Michael Linhart was sworn in as Foreign Minister by President Alexander Van der Bellen as the successor to Alexander Schallenberg, who was appointed the new Austrian Chancellor on the same day.

Michael Linhart's younger brother Markus Linhart is a People's Party politician who served as the mayor of Bregenz from 1998 to 2020.