Everything indicates that Austria could be led in a very short time by the ultranationalist FPÖ party, led by Herbert Kickl, after the attempt to form a government by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), second in the last government elections, along with the Social Democrats (SPÖ) – and thus avoid depending on the extreme right – failed.
This failure, last Saturday. And everything indicates that the winners in the last elections, the ultranationalists of the FPÖ, They will have the opportunity to form a government in the coming days.
Thus, the president of the country, the progressive Alexander van der Bellen, announced this Sunday from the Hofburg Palace, who will meet on Monday with Kickl. Despite the announcement, the president did not make it clear if he would give the ultra leader the opportunity to form a government, although the ÖVP hopes this will be the case. In fact, They have shown themselves open to negotiating an agreement with the nationalists.
It must be remembered that the FPÖ, a formation considered eurosceptic and pro-Russian, won the legislative elections with almost 28.8% of the votes, followed by the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) with 26.3%, the social democratic SPÖ with 21.1%, the liberal Neos with 9% and the Greens with 8%.
These results caused the popular and socialists to try to find a meeting point to reach an agreement and apply the cordon sanitaire that all Austrian forces maintain against the ultranationalists, But it is clear that the plan has not gone as expected.
For his part, Van der Bellen has had words of gratitude to the outgoing chancellor, Nehammer, who since the results of the elections were known, showed his clear rejection of seeking an agreement with Kickl. although everything indicates that the popular ones will have no choice but to end up reaching out to him.
In fact, the president of the country has recognized that “Voices within the ÖVP that ruled out cooperation with Kickl have weakened” after the recent failure of negotiations with socialists and neoliberals.
Despite this, the head of state thanked Nehammer for his work at the head of the country’s chancellery during the last three years, in which the Austrian government was formed by the coalition between conservatives and greens (the president’s party), and indicated that he will remain in office until a successor is named, something that could happen next week.
On the other hand, the Austrian conservatives have already named Nehammer’s interim successor, the hitherto general secretary, Christian Stocker, who hopes that “Kickl will be tasked with forming a new government” by the president of the country to unblock the situation that the country has been going through since last September 29.
