Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen announced on Sunday that he will meet with far-right politician Herbert Kickl, as speculation grows that he will ask the leader of the Freedom Party to form a government.

Van der Bellen made the announcement after meeting with Chancellor Karl Nehammer and others at his presidential palace.

Nehammer announced his intention to resign after the collapse of coalition talks between the conservative Austrian People’s Party and the center-left Social Democratic Party regarding the budget.

Nehammer ruled out working with Kickel, but others within his party were less adamant.

Earlier on Sunday, the People’s Party nominated its secretary-general, Christian Stocker, as interim leader, but the president said Nehammer would remain chancellor for the time being.

In the past, Stoker criticized Kickl, describing him as a “security threat” to the country.

In its election platform titled “Fortress Austria”, the Freedom Party calls for the “resettlement of uninvited aliens”, in order to achieve a more “homogeneous” nation through strict border control and the suspension of the right to asylum through emergency law.

The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions on Russia, is strongly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to withdraw from the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. The Freedom Party also signed a friendship agreement in 2016 with Putin’s United Russia party that it now claims has expired.

Kickl criticized the “elite” in Brussels and called for some powers to be returned from the European Union to Austria.

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This weekend, Van der Bellen said he spent several hours speaking with key officials, after which he got the impression that “the voices within the People’s Party ruling out working with the Freedom Party under its leader Herbert Kickl, had become quieter.”

The president said this development “potentially opens a new path,” prompting him to invite Kickl to a meeting on Monday morning.

Kickel’s Freedom Party topped the polls in the fall’s national elections with 29.2% of the vote, but Van der Bellen tasked Nehammer with forming a new government because no other party was willing to work with Kickel.

This decision sparked strong criticism from the Freedom Party and its supporters, with Kickel saying in October that it was “not correct and illogical” that he did not obtain a mandate to form the government.

“We are not responsible for the wasted time, chaotic situation and massive violation of trust that emerged,” Kickl said Sunday afternoon on social media. “On the contrary: it is clear that the Freedom Party was and remains the only stable factor in Austrian politics.”

Stocker spoke to reporters on Sunday afternoon and confirmed that he had been appointed “unanimously” by his party to be interim leader. “I am very proud and happy,” he said.

He also welcomed the President’s decision to meet with Kickel, and said he now expected the party leader who emerged as the clear winner in the recent elections to be tasked with forming the government.

Stoker added: “If we are invited to negotiations to form the government, we will accept this invitation.”

Austria witnessed political unrest on Friday after the liberal Neues Party withdrew from coalition talks with the People’s Party and the Social Democrats.

On Saturday, the two remaining parties, which have a majority of just one seat in parliament, made another attempt to form a government – but that also ended in failure a few hours later, with negotiators saying they were unable to agree on how to fix the problem. Budget deficit.

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