[citation needed] After the parliamentary elections 1971 - in which the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) under Bruno Kreisky won a majority — he became a member of parliament and mayor of Euratsfeld.

[citation needed] Following the 1986 elections, Alois Mock was Austrian vice chancellor in the government of Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ) from 1987 to 1989.

In June 1989, together with his Hungarian colleague Gyula Horn, he cut the wires of the Iron Curtain near Sopron at the fortified border to Communist neighbour Hungary.

As a result, during the following months, thousands of East German citizens were able to exit the Eastern Bloc [citation needed] In 1991, he urged Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Helmut Kohl to recognize Croatia and Slovenia as independent states as soon as possible.

At the time of his death, Mock was a Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Panel Foundation, an NGO that works behind the scenes in crisis areas around the world.