Austria's coalition talks led by far-right Freedom Party start, uncertainty remains

Vienna [Austria], January 11: Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg was sworn in as the country's interim chancellor on Friday, succeeding Karl Nehammer, who resigned as chancellor of the caretaker government and chairman of the People's Party on Jan. 4 following the collapse of coalition talks. This marks the latest twist in Austria's ongoing coalition formation dilemma.
Also on Friday, the far-right Freedom Party, which won the September parliamentary elections, officially began coalition negotiations with the conservative People's Party. The talks are set to continue over the weekend, with initial results expected early next week, according to local media.
In the parliamentary elections, the Freedom Party secured first place with around 29 percent of the vote, followed by the People's Party with 26.3 percent and the Social Democratic Party with 21.1 percent. The liberal NEOS party came in fourth.
The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, had initially been excluded from coalition talks by all the major parties, which prompted President Alexander Van der Bellen to task Nehammer with forming a new government in October.
However, coalition negotiations involving the People's Party, the Social Democratic Party and the NEOS party, which had been ongoing since mid-November, collapsed on Jan. 3. Two-party talks between the People's Party and the Social Democrats also fell apart just one day later, which eventually led to Nehammer's resignation.
On Monday, Van der Bellen gave Kickl the mandate to form a new government, paving the way for the Freedom Party, which had only previously served as a junior coalition partner in Austrian governments, to lead in a potential coalition.
Later that day, Christian Stocker, the interim leader of the People's Party following Nehammer's departure and previously a vehement critic of Kickl, expressed a willingness to enter into coalition talks with the Freedom Party.
On Tuesday, Kickl invited the People's Party to coalition talks, urging "no games, no tricks, no sabotage."
While both the Freedom Party and the People's Party have expressed serious intent to negotiate a coalition, the path to breaking the political deadlock and forming a stable government remains uncertain.
The two parties largely agree on several social and economic policies, such as combating illegal immigration and cutting corporate taxes. However, significant differences remain in foreign and security policies, particularly regarding the European Union's sanctions on Russia and Austria's participation in the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), a German-led air defense project.
The People's Party supports the ESSI, while the Eurosceptic Freedom Party has strongly criticized the initiative, viewing it as a threat to Austria's neutrality. Additionally, the Freedom Party opposes sanctions against Russia.
On Friday, Stocker expressed reservations about the prospects of successful negotiations with the Freedom Party. In an interview with Austrian newspaper Der Standard, he said he can not rule out the possibility that the coalition talks might ultimately fail, stating that "We are entering these talks seriously, but there are limits."
The Freedom Party also said on X on Friday that "We are ready to take on government responsibility at the federal level," vowing to govern the country with "honesty, predictability and reliability."
Austrian news agency APA reported on Friday that with 103 days having passed since the parliamentary elections, the ongoing government formation process is now the third-longest in Austria's history since 1945.
Source: Xinhua News Agency