The News
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has been given the task of forming Vienna’s next government, after talks between mainstream parties collapsed last week.
Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday met with Herbert Kickl, the FPÖ’s leader, to give him the chance to attempt to form a government with the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP).
“I did not take this step lightly,” Van der Bellen said. “I may have certain wishes, but respect for the voters dictates that I accept this majority.”
The Austrian Freedom Party became the biggest party in parliament when it won 28.8% of the vote in elections in September last year.
SIGNALS
Coalition talks could take months, but are expected to succeed
Negotiations between the FPÖ and ÖVP could take months, but analysts told the New York Times that the talks could go more smoothly than previous efforts to form a new government. The two parties largely agree on deregulation, not introducing new taxes, and migration, a columnist wrote in Austrian newspaper Die Presse. Adding pressure on the ÖVP to reach an agreement is the fact that the Freedom Party could poll as high as 37% in a snap election, even as the center-right party would be expected to slump in the polls. If talks fail, a snap election is likely, and the ÖVP’s leadership is skeptical that it could turn things around in a new round of voting, the Financial Times reported.
Far-right government in Austria could complicate EU’s Ukraine policy
If the FPÖ succeeds in forming a coalition, it could complicate the European Union’s policy on combating the war in Ukraine. The party opposes sanctions against Russia and has pushed for Austria to stop contributing to the EU’s support for Ukraine. It has also forged closer ties with Hungary’s strongman leader Viktor Orbán, forming a new alliance in the European Parliament to push for peace talks with Russia. The far-right party has long been accused of close ties to the Kremlin, and signed a cooperation agreement with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party in 2016, a deal that expired in 2021. The Freedom Party maintains it is the only party taking Austria’s tradition of neutrality, which is enshrined in its constitution, seriously.