The leader of Austria's Freedom Party was given the mandate on Monday to form a new government, which, if successful, would be the first led by the far right since World War II.
The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, won Austria's parliamentary election in September, taking 28.8 percent of the vote and overtaking outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative Austrian People's Party into second place.
But in October, President Alexander Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the first opportunity to form a new government after Nehammer's party said it would not enter government with the Freedom Party under Kickl and others refused to work. with the Freedom Party at all. Those efforts to form a governing alliance without the far right collapsed in the first days of the new year and Nehammer said Saturday he would resign.
The Popular Party then indicated that it might be willing to work under Kickl's leadership. Van der Bellen said after meeting Kickl for about an hour at the presidential palace on Monday that he had tasked the Freedom Party leader with holding talks with the People's Party to form a new government.
“I did not take this step lightly,” the president told reporters. “I will continue to ensure that the principles and rules of our Constitution are correctly respected and adhered to.”
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The far right and the conservatives have governed together before, but on previous occasions with the Freedom Party as a junior partner. Most recently, they ruled Austria from 2017 to 2019 in a government in which Kickl, a 56-year-old with a taste for provocation, served as interior minister. It collapsed in a scandal that surrounded the leader of the Freedom Party at the time.
Coalition talks between the far right and the Conservatives are not guaranteed to succeed, but there are no longer any realistic options in the current parliament and polls suggest new elections could soon strengthen the Freedom Party even further.
In its electoral program entitled “Fortress Austria”, the Freedom Party has called for the “remigration of uninvited foreigners”, to achieve a more “homogeneous” nation through strict border control and the suspension of the right to asylum through a emergency law.
The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to withdraw from the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. Kickl has criticized the “elites” in Brussels and has called for some powers to be returned from the European Union to Austria.
Van der Bellen noted that the new government will not have an easy task.
“The economic environment is difficult. Austria is in a persistent recession, unemployment is rising; At the same time, it is necessary to restructure our state budget,” he stated. “Not all measures are likely to be popular, but they will have to be implemented.”
He also noted the geopolitical threats facing Austria, particularly as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine, and noted the importance of “constructively strengthening European cooperation in the Union, also in the interests of Austrian industry and exporters.”
And the head of state, a liberal originally from the environmentalist Greens, said he and Kickl had discussed at length press freedom in Austria.
Kickl is confident of finding “viable solutions” in coalition talks, “and wants to take on this responsibility,” the president said.
Kickl walked past reporters without comment as he left the meeting.
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