By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) – The chief of Austria’s far-right Freedom Celebration (FPO) met President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday anticipating to be tasked with forming a coalition authorities after a centrist bid to assemble one with out the FPO collapsed over the weekend.
The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO, based within the Fifties by a former senior officer in Hitler’s elite paramilitary SS, got here first in a parliamentary election for the primary time in September with greater than 29% of the vote. It has been in energy earlier than as a junior coalition accomplice however has by no means led a authorities.
“First the individuals after which the chancellor,” FPO chief Herbert Kickl stated in a quick Fb (NASDAQ:) posting on Sunday night, repeating a populist slogan from his marketing campaign, including that he wouldn’t remark earlier than assembly Van der Bellen.
He arrived for his assembly at Van der Bellen’s workplace as deliberate at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT). Van der Bellen was because of give a press release to the media lower than an hour after the assembly ends.
Van der Bellen infuriated the FPO by not tasking it with forming a authorities quickly after the election since no potential coalition accomplice was instantly forthcoming. That activity fell to the conservative Folks’s Celebration (OVP) and its chief Chancellor Karl Nehammer. The OVP got here second within the election.
Nehammer’s makes an attempt to assemble a three- after which two-party coalition with different centrist events fell aside this weekend, prompting him to announce his resignation.
He had lengthy insisted his get together wouldn’t govern with FPO chief Herbert Kickl, arguing he’s a conspiracy theorist and safety menace. With Nehammer gone, so is that purple line. His interim successor as OVP chief, Christian Stocker, stated on Sunday his get together would participate in any coalition talks led by Kickl.
“We’re on the very starting. If we’re invited to those talks, the result of these talks is open,” OVP heavyweight Wilfried Haslauer, the governor of Salzburg state who stood subsequent to Stocker at his first assertion to the media as designated get together chief, informed broadcaster ORF.
Ought to these talks fail, nonetheless, a snap election is probably going, and opinion polls present FPO assist has solely grown since September.
NEW PATH
The OVP and FPO overlap on numerous points, notably taking a troublesome line on immigration.
The thorniest subject within the centrists’ talks, nonetheless, was shrink the price range deficit, which is forecast to exceed the EU’s restrict of three% of financial output in 2024 and 2025.
Whereas each events name for tax cuts, the FPO has pledged to take a knife to a number of the OVP’s vested pursuits, such because the highly effective Chamber of Commerce. They conflict over the FPO’s opposition to help for Ukraine in its conflict towards Russia, and present plans for a missile defence system.
Van der Bellen, a former chief of the left-wing Greens, has repeatedly stated he’ll stay vigilant to make sure “cornerstones of democracy” together with human rights, impartial media and Austria’s membership of the European Union are revered.
“Voices inside the Folks’s Celebration that rule out cooperation with an FPO beneath Herbert Kickl have turn out to be a lot quieter. This in flip implies that a brand new path could also be opening up that didn’t exist earlier than,” Van der Bellen stated in an handle on Sunday.
