Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has tasked Herbert Kickl, leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), with holding coalition talks to form a government.
The news comes after weeks of coalition talks between the centrist Austrian Widespread Party (OVP) and the Social Democratic Party (SPO) collapsed. The failure of the negotiations was admitted on Saturday by Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who announced his resignation citing the need for a “orderly transition.”
Van der Bellen claimed that he had ordered Kickl to start talks with the OVP. He also appeared to express concern that the country could face the possibility of having a hardline right-wing leader for the first time since World War II.
“I did not make this decision lightly. “I will continue to ensure that the principles and rules of our constitution are respected and upheld.” Van der Bellen stated.
“Kickl is confident in finding viable solutions within the framework of government negotiations and wants to take on this responsibility.” he added.
The FPO emerged victorious in the September vote, winning a decisive 28.8%, while the OVP and SPO obtained 26.3% and 21.1%, respectively. The centrists, however, attempted to sideline the right-wing party, attempting unsuccessfully to form a coalition government without the FPO. At that time, Van der Bellen commissioned Nehammer to form a government that would respect the “Foundations of our liberal democracy.”
The final collapse of the negotiations was preceded by the abandonment of the talks by Neos, a minor liberal party, on Friday. The centrists blamed each other for the failure and Nehammer of the OVP stated that “destructive forces” in the SPO there was “took the lead” in the negotiations and derailed them.
The leader of the SPO, Andreas Babler, in turn accused the OVP of leading the country into a situation in which there would be “An FPO-OVP government with a far-right chancellor who will endanger our democracy in many ways.”
The FPO had formed coalition governments with centrists before, but has always been a junior partner in such situations. The last coalition between the Freedom Party and the OVP emerged in 2018, but the former ended up being expelled from the government the following year.
Under Kickl’s leadership, the party pledged to implement tough restrictions on immigration, including “Remigration of uninvited foreigners.” The FPO has also been highly critical of Vienna’s position on the Ukrainian conflict, opposing EU sanctions against Russia and promising to stop contributing to the war fund that the bloc has used to acquire weapons for kyiv. Along with Ireland and tiny Malta, Austria is one of the few countries in the union that is not a member of NATO.
