Susanne Riess (born 3 January 1961 in Braunau am Inn)[1] is a former Austrian politician of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).

In the first government headed by Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, which was inaugurated in 2000, she became Vice Chancellor[2] and minister of public services and sports, representing her party in the coalition with Schüssel's Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).

He thus resigned as party leader in favour of Riess-Passer, who had been FPÖ managing chairwoman since 1996.

[5] After severe disagreements with her former political mentor Haider in Summer 2002[6] (the so-called Knittelfeld Putsch), she resigned from all of her posts, as did finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and the party spokesman in parliament, Peter Westenthaler.

[7] After the 2002 elections, she remained Vice Chancellor on a provisional basis until the coalition between ÖVP and FPÖ was renewed in early 2003, and has since had no involvement in politics.