Following his childhood in Salzburg, Kiefer studied law at Salzburg University and economics at the University of Linz. He graduated from his studies with a PhD in law in 1984. Beginning in 1984, Kiefer worked as Chef de Cabinet of Hans Katschthaler, the vice-governor and later governor of the State of Salzburg. Kiefer played a key role in the creation of the Euroregion Salzburg - Berchtesgadener Land - Traunstein with nearly 100 municipalities, the first Euroregion with Austrian participation. Following Austria's accession to the European Union in 1995, Kiefer became Director of the European Affairs Service of the State of Salzburg regional government. Kiefer was the first national coordinator of the Austrian delegation to the Committee of the Regions of the European Union. In the Council of Europe he has worked for all Congress members of the State of Salzburg since 1995 and as a representative of the Austrian states in the Congress working group on Regions with Legislative Powers since 1999. From 2000 to 2009 Kiefer represented the Austrian states in the Intergovernmental Conferences of the European Union on the Treaty on a Constitution for Europe and the Lisbon Treaty at working level. At municipal level Andreas Kiefer served as chairman and member of municipal electoral committees for municipal, regional, federal and European elections and initiated a citizens' participation project to integrate new residents and to create a municipal mission statement in the municipality of Kuchl in Salzburg. In March 2010, Kiefer was elected Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe for a term of five years by the Parliamentary Assembly.
Academic activities
Andreas Kiefer has been a speaker at a number of international conferences and has given lectures at universities and post graduate courses. He has published widely about local self-government, regionalism, federalism, interregional and cross-border co-operation, regions with legislative powers, the Austrian political system, about the local and regional dimension in the Council of Europe and the Committee of the Regions. Kiefer is active member of the Network of Authors of the European Center for Research in Federalism at the University of Tübingen. He is also member of the academic advisory council of the European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano.
Publications
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities: Fundamental reform and new dynamics for monitoring, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung, Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2012. Baden-Baden 2012.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, in: Dr. Hans Lechner-Forschungsgesellschaft, Salzburg. Geschichte & Politik. Megatrend Regionalismus. 21. Jahrgang, Heft 1/2, November 2011. Salzburg 2011.
Human Rights: Local and regional authorities in action, in: Wolfgang Benedek et al., European Yearbook on Human Rights 2011. Wien 2011.
European and external relations of the Austrian Länder with a specific reference to Land Salzburg, in: Carlos P. Amaral, Regional Autonomy and International Relations. New Dimensions of Multilateral Governance. Paris 2011.
European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation and Euroregional Cooperation Grouping. Two legal instruments for cross-border cooperation, in: Birte Wassenberg, Joachim Beck, Living and Researching. Cross-Border Cooperation : The European dimension. Stuttgart 2011.
The regional dimension of the Council of Europe, in: Council of Europe Publishing and Renate Kicker, The Council of Europe – Pioneer and guarantor for human rights and democracy. Straßburg 2010.
Regions and foreign/external relations within the framework of the member states of the Council of Europe – experiences from Austria and with an aspect of the relations to regions and institutions from EU countries, in: Europarat et al., International and external economic links of the subjects of the Russian Federation. Closing the Council of Europe project during 1994-2006. Moskau 2007.
The Contribution of the Regions with Legislative Competences to the European Constitutional Process, in: Institut der Regionen Europas, Occasional Papers 2/2007. The EU-Constitutional Treaty and the Regions of Europe. Salzburg 2007.
Reform of Federalism in Austria, in: Europarat, The constitutional status of the regions in the Russian Federation and in other European Countries. Straßburg 2003.
Gesetzgebende Regionalparlamente und ihr europäischer Verband: die CALRE, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung, Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2006. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa. Baden-Baden 2006.
Die Bundesstaatsreform im Jahr 1993. Von der 'Politischen Vereinbarung über die Neuordnung des Bundesstaates' zu konkreten Verfassungsentwürfen des Bundes und der Länder, in: Andreas Kohl et al., Österreichisches Jahrbuch für Politik 1993. Wien/München 1994.
EuRegio Salzburg - Berchtesgadener Land / Traunstein: 'Grenzenlose Nachbarschaft'. Ein Projekt nachbarschaftlicher Zusammenarbeit im salzburgisch-bayerischen Grenzgebiet. Salzburg 1994.
Länderrechte, Regionalismus und EG, in: Andreas Kohl et al., Österreichisches Jahrbuch für Politik 1992. Wien 1993.
Private life
Kiefer is married to Carmen Kiefer, who works as public relations consultant und vice-mayor of the town of Kuchl. They have three children.
