The Austrian conservatives (ÖVP) are willing to start talks with the Freedom Party (FPÖ) after the attempt to agree on a government coalition that would exclude the ultras, winners with 28.8% of the votes in the elections of the last September 29. The breakdown of talks with the Social Democrats (SPÖ) this Saturday, preceded a day before the departure of the Neos liberals from the negotiations for a moderate tripartite that would obtain a majority in the Austrian Parliament, led the Christian Democrat Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, to announce his resignation from office and as head of the ÖVP. His successor, the until now general secretary Christian Stocker, appointed this Sunday, has stated in an appearance before the media that, given the situation of blockade and political crisis, his party would accept an “invitation” to talks from Herbert’s ultras. Kickl, something that the resigning chancellor had ruled out until now.
The dismissal of Nehammer as head of the Christian Democrats and as acting head of the Executive, which will be formalized in the coming days, has thus opened the door to a possible pact between ÖVP and FPÖ, as the far-right takes office for the first time in democracy the chancellery of Austria. The ultras have insisted since election night that it is their responsibility to lead a new Government after their victory with a program focused on the rejection of immigration and asylum, Eurosceptic and pro-Russian.
Stocker, who has thanked Nehammer for his efforts to agree on a tripartite agreement that would leave out the ultras, has declared that he hopes that the country’s president, the progressive Alexander Van der Bellen, will now entrust the formation of the Government to Kickl. A step that the president avoided after the elections after speaking with all the leaders and verifying that no party was willing to join forces with the far right because they considered their leader’s approaches extreme. However, Nehammer was careful to include his rejection of Kickl in the FPÖ, in which he stated during the campaign that there are “sensible people.” Conservatives and ultras have already governed together in the past at the federal level, and are now partners in several regions.
Shortly before the intervention of the interim head of the ÖVP, President Van der Bellen announced that he had summoned the ultra leader to a conversation at the presidential palace in Vienna this Monday. The president has recalled that he was not tasked with forming an Executive despite having won the elections after observing a general rejection of him leading it. He thus left the attempt in the hands of the second party, the ÖVP, which suffered a hard fall at the polls to 26.3%, followed by the Social Democrats (21.1%), Liberals (9.1%) and Los green (8.2%).
Van der Bellen has stated that he was surprised by the breakdown of the negotiations for a tripartite and that Austria, in recession for two years, needs a Government with the capacity to act and with a clear majority in Parliament. The president, who has not made it clear that he is going to entrust the formation of the Executive to Kickl, as he is expected to do from the conservative ranks, has recalled that in democracy it is necessary to seek “solutions and compromises.” He has also noted that “the voices within the ÖVP that ruled out cooperation with Kickl have weakened” after Nehammer’s withdrawal.
And as he did on election night, in the face of the ultra victory, Van der Bellen has highlighted the need to respect the rule of law, the separation of power, human and minority rights, freedom of the press and belonging to the European Union as bases of democracy.
