The smallest of the three parties in Austria’s coalition talks, the liberal Neos, has withdrawn from the negotiations, as announced by party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger. Following the September elections, the far-right FPÖ became the largest party.
Despite this, President Nehammer tasked the conservative ÖVP with forming a new government, deviating from the tradition of asking the leader of the largest party to do so. The ÖVP initiated talks with the social-democratic SPÖ and Neos.
According to Meinl-Reisinger, both parties showed insufficient ambition and failed to make progress. She added that her party is still willing to support agreements reached during the negotiations in parliament, hinting at a possible SPÖ and ÖVP coalition, which holds just enough seats (92 out of 183) in the Nationalrat, Austria’s lower house.
The FPÖ has been gaining in the polls since being sidelined and criticizes the current talks as undemocratic and an attempt to form a “coalition of losers.” Only the conservative ÖVP is open to working with the far-right FPÖ, and that too with conditions. Opposition to the FPÖ stems partly from party leader Herbert Kicks’ involvement in a Russian espionage scandal and his self-identification as Volkskanzler, a title formerly used by the Nazis for Adolf Hitler.
Concerns have been raised about his commitment to the rule of law, as he has expressed that politics should not be subordinate to the law. Following the election results in September, thousands of people protested in Vienna against the potential inclusion of the far-right party in the government.
Source: NOS