On Monday, the leader of the Austrian Freedom Party received a mandate to form a new government, which will be the first headed by the extreme right since World War II, if he succeeds.
The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, won Austria’s parliamentary elections in September, receiving 28.8% of the vote, defeating the conservative Austrian People’s Party of outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who came in second place.
But in October, President Alexander van der Bellen gave Nehammer the first chance to form a new government after Nehammer’s party said it would not enter into a government with the Keckel-led Freedom Party and others refused to work with the Freedom Party at all. Those efforts to form a governing coalition without the far right collapsed in the first few days of the new year, and Nehammer said on Saturday that he would resign.
The People’s Party subsequently indicated that it might be open to working under Kickl’s leadership. Van der Bellen said after meeting with Kickel for about an hour at the presidential palace on Monday that he had assigned the Freedom Party leader to hold talks with the People’s Party to form a new government.
“I did not take this step lightly,” the president told reporters. “I will continue to ensure that the principles and rules of our Constitution are properly respected and adhered to.”
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The far right and the Conservatives have governed together before, but on previous occasions the Freedom Party has been the junior partner. Most recently, they ran Austria from 2017 to 2019 in a government in which Kickl – a 56-year-old who loves to provoke – served as interior minister. It collapsed in a scandal surrounding the leader of the Freedom Party at the time.
The success of coalition talks between the far right and the Conservatives is not guaranteed, but there are no longer any other realistic options in the current parliament and opinion polls indicate that holding new elections soon could strengthen the Freedom Party further.
In its election platform titled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party called for “reinstating the immigration of uninvited foreigners,” 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. Kickl criticized the “elite” in Brussels and called for some powers to be returned from the European Union to Austria.
Van der Bellen indicated that the new government will not face an easy task.
“The economic environment is difficult. Austria is in a continuing recession, unemployment is rising; at the same time the state budget must be restructured.” “Not all measures are likely to be popular, but they must be implemented.”
He also pointed to the geopolitical threats facing Austria, particularly as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and noted the importance of “constructively strengthening European cooperation in the Union, which is also in the interest of Austrian industry and exporters.”
The head of state, a liberal who originally hails from the environmentalist Green Party, said he and Kickl discussed media freedom in Austria at length.
The president said Kickl was confident “workable solutions” would be found in the coalition talks, “and he wants that responsibility.”
Kickl walked past reporters without commenting as he left the meeting.
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