Ulrike Lunacek

Ulrike Lunacek
Lunacek in 2015
Member of the European Parliament
In office 1 July 2009 – 8 November 2017
Succeeded by	Thomas Waitz
Constituency	Austria
Member to the National Council
In office 3 October 1999 – 1 July 2009
Nominated by	Alexander Van der Bellen
Affiliation	The Greens
Personal details
Born	(1957-05-26) 26 May 1957 (age 67) Krems an der Donau, Lower Austria, Austria
Political party	Austrian Green Party
Alma mater	University of Innsbruck
Website	www.ulrike-lunacek.eu

Ulrike Lunacek (German pronunciation: [ʔʊlˈriːkə ˈluːnatʃɛk]] born 26 May 1957) is an Austrian politician who served as State Secretary for Cultural Affairs in the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in 2020. She is a member of the Austrian Green party The Greens – The Green Alternative, part of the European Green Party.

From 2009 until 2017, Lunacek was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). During that time, she served as Vice President of the European Parliament, Member of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament and head of delegation of the Austrian Greens in the European Parliament. She was Kosovo rapporteur and co-president of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights and Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Substitute in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

In 2017, Lunacek was the Greens' top candidate for the Austrian general election, in which the party suffered a historic defeat and failed to win a single seat in parliament for the first time since 1983. Lunacek subsequently stepped down from all Austrian and EU political functions.