Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Sunday he announced that he would meet with far-right politician Herbert Kickl as speculation grew that he would ask the Freedom Party leader 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 coalition talks between his conservative Austrian People's Party and the Social Democrats broke down. budget.
Nehammer has refused to work with Kickl, but others in his party have no qualms. Earlier Sunday, the People's Party appointed its general secretary, Christian Stocker, as interim leader, but the president said Nehammer will remain as chancellor for the time being.
Van der Bellen said that he spent several hours talking to the authorities, after which he received the opinion that “the voices inside the People's Party do not include working with the Freedom Party under the leadership of the same Herbert Kickl in silence.”
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The president said that this development “may open a new path,” which prompted him to invite Kickl for a meeting on Monday morning.
Kickl's Freedom Party led the country's autumn elections with 29.2% of the vote, but Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the task of putting together a new government because no other party was willing to work with Kickl.
The decision drew widespread criticism from the Freedom Party and its supporters, with Kickl saying in October that it was “incorrect and unreasonable” that he had not received an order to form a government.
“We are not responsible for the time wasted, the chaotic conditions and the huge breach of trust that has occurred,” Kickl said Sunday afternoon on social media. “On the contrary: It is clear that the Freedom Party has been and continues to be the only stable one in Austrian politics.”
An exterior view of the headquarters of the Austrian Peoples' Party in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, January 05, 2025. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)
Stocker spoke to reporters on Sunday afternoon and confirmed that he had been “unanimously” chosen by his party to serve as interim leader. “I am honored and very happy,” he said.
He also welcomed the president's decision to meet with Kickl and said that he now expects that the leader of the party that emerged as the clear winner in the last election will be given the task of forming the government.
“If we are invited to the talks to form a government, we will accept this invitation,” Stocker added.
In the past, Stocker has criticized Kickl, calling him a “security risk” for the country.
In its election program called “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party calls for “uninvited immigration,” in order to achieve a “integrated” society through strict border controls and suspend the right to asylum through emergency legislation.
The Freedom Party also wants to end sanctions against Russia, strongly criticizes Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to withdraw from the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project started by Germany. The Freedom Party also signed a friendship agreement in 2016 with Putin's United Russia Party which it now says is over.
Kickl criticized the “elite” of Brussels and asked to return some power from European Union in Austria.
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Austria was engulfed in political turmoil on Friday after the liberal Neos party pulled out of coalition talks with the People's Party and the Social Democrats. On Saturday the two remaining parties, with only one seat in Parliament, tried again to form a government – but this too failed after a few hours, when negotiators say they can't agree on how to fix it. budget deficit.