# Mario Frick (politician)

Mario K. Frick (born 8 May 1965) is a lawyer and politician from Liechtenstein who served as Prime Minister of Liechtenstein from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein in 1993, under the government of Markus Büchel.

## Early life

Frick was born on 8 May 1965 in Chur to trustee Kuno Frick and Melita Kaufmann as one of six children. From 1977 to 1985 he attended high school in Vaduz and proceeded to study law in University of St. Gallen, where he received a diploma in 1991.

## Prime Minister of Liechtenstein

Frick was the Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein from May 1993 under Markus Büchel until he resigned in October under pressure from the Progressive Citizens' Party after the Landtag of Liechtenstein withdrew its confidence in him, and Frick became Prime Minister of Liechtenstein. Hans-Adam II subsequently called the October 1993 Liechtenstein general election which resulted in a win for the Patriotic Union. He became Europe's youngest head of government at the time at 28 years old.
During his tenure as prime minister, Liechtenstein entered the European Economic Area after a successful referendum in 1995, and also joined the World Trade Organization the same year. However, it also faced problems in its foreign relations, such as a dispute with the Czech Republic begun in 1992 over the confiscation of Princely properties estates in 1945, and a 2001 dispute with Germany in the International Court of Justice over royal property confiscated in order to pay war debts.
In 1997, the Progressive Citizens' Party withdrew from the coalition government that had existed since 1938, making his second cabinet the first non-coalition cabinet since then.
Frick's government was faced with the challenge of the 1999–2001 Liechtenstein financial crisis, where the German Federal Intelligence Service accused various banks, politicians and judges within Liechtenstein of cooperating with organized crime to promote money laundering. This led to Liechtenstein being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force in 2000. As a result, his government oversaw reforms to the Liechtenstein financial sector to combat organized crime and money laundering.

## Later life

After the end of his term as prime minister, Frick was notably prominent in the political controversy surrounding the 2003 Liechtenstein constitutional referendum, whereby it was proposed that the ruling prince be given wider powers; a number of other measures were also proposed. Frick led the opposition to the proposed changes which, however, were subsequently approved by the electorate.
Since 2002, Frick is a co-owner of the law firm Advocatur Seeger, Frick & Partner based in Schaan. He was chairman of the board of directors of media company Vaduzer Medienhaus AG from 2003 to 2009.

## Personal life

Frick married Andrea Haberlander (born 11 February 1965) on 16 September 1992 and they have three children together. He lives in Balzers.
Frick's brother Jürgen was shot and killed in the underground garage of Frick & Co. Bank in the town of Balzers on 7 April 2014. The shooter, Jürgen Hermann, later shot and killed himself, and his body was found in Lake Constance on the German side of the lake. Hermann tried to sue Frick in 2010 but the suit was thrown out by the courts.