The leader of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, met with the country’s president as expectations grow that he shall be tasked with attempting to form a new government.
Kickel’s party won the September parliamentary elections in Austria, winning 28.8% of the vote and defeating the conservative Austrian People’s Party of outgoing chancellor Karl Nehammer in second place.
However, in October, President Alexander Van der Bellen tasked Nehammer with attempting to form a new government after his party stated that he wouldn’t enter a government with the Freedom Party under Kickel’s leadership, while others refused to cooperate with the Freedom Party in any respect.
Efforts to form a governing alliance without the far right collapsed in the first days of the new 12 months and Nehammer announced his resignation on Saturday.
The People’s Party then signaled that it may be open to working with Kickel.
There is not any guarantee that negotiations between the two will succeed, but there aren’t any other realistic coalition options left in the current parliament, and polls indicate that new elections soon could further strengthen the Freedom Party.
The far right and conservatives have governed together before, but on previous occasions with the Freedom Party as a junior partner.
They most recently ruled Austria from 2017 to 2019 in a government by which Kickl – a 56-year-old with a penchant for provocation – was interior minister. It collapsed in consequence of the scandal surrounding the then leader of the Freedom Party.
In its election manifesto titled “Fortress Austria”, the Freedom Party called for the “re-migration of uninvited foreigners” to attain a more “unitary” nation through strict border control and suspension of the right to asylum through an emergency law.
The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, could be very critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and needs to withdraw from the European Air Shield Initiative – an anti-missile defense project – launched by Germany.
Kickl criticized the “elites” in Brussels and called for the restoration of some European Union rights to Austria.
