Bernadette Schöny is Austria’s youngest female mayor

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Bernadette Schöny, Austria’s youngest mayor, is a very successful young politician who has many plans for making her town Kaltenleutgeben even better and her community much happier.

Bernadette Schöny ran for the first time for the municipal council of Kaltenleutgeben in 2015, and she became executive councilor for family policies and health. 

It is just incredible how she managed to study and build her impressive political career at the same time and this young. Mayor Schöny completed her bachelor’s degree in Export-oriented Management at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems.

She stated: “I applied for the bachelor programme in Export-oriented Management because I didn’t just want to study economics, but my focus was clearly on the international field, and still is. Having spent some time abroad before, it was essential for me to complete my studies in English. Networking with international students is very important to me and the degree programme was very diverse in that respect.

Teaching contents that I remember particularly positively are actually all “legal subjects”. I never really wanted to study law, because this field would have been too dry for me. During my studies, however, the legal contents were explained with a practical focus and not only in theory. Even though I am the mayor of Kaltenleutgeben and act on a municipal level, understanding international agendas is also very important on this level. How to come to an agreement on an international level and what different institutions there are was very helpful for me and I found it very interesting. That is why I decided to specialize in this area. What I really liked about the programme was that it was not just about learning 100 pages of material by heart, but that understanding the content was much more important.”

She even managed to find time for enjoying her private life and building a family. Shortly before the date of her electoral success, she married her long-term partner Stefan and then went by the name Bernadette Geieregger.

Despite her very busy schedule, Bernadette loves and enjoys her job as a mayor and she would like to hold the mayor’s office for some time. She loves her town very much and is very devoted to helping the inhabitants and making the city of Kaltenleutgeben more modern, beautiful, and functional. She has created many good projects and she is not planning to stop soon. 

 “As mayor, I am not only the representative of my community, but I am also the building authority of the first instance. Which means that I approve building applications. Although I am not from the building industry, I have an excellent building expert who supports me here with his expertise. Otherwise, I chair the meetings of the municipal council and the municipal board. Furthermore, I also have many personal conversations with citizens, and try to help or assist them with their concerns. Every day is different and that is what makes my job so exciting. I do not want to swap!”, stated Bernadette Schöny.

Ms Schöny surprised everyone when she became Austria’s youngest mayor with only twenty-seven years. She has set a new high standard for politicians from all around the world and her age only makes her political efforts much more impressive. 

Photo credit: Peter Ramberger