Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen announced on Sunday he will meet with far-right politician Herbert Kickl as speculation grows that he will ask the Freedom Party leader to form a government.
Van der Bellen made the announcement after meeting with Chancellor Carl Nehammer and others at his presidential palace. Nehmer has announced his intention to resign after coalition talks between his conservative Austrian People’s Party and the center-left Social Democrats over the budget failed.
Nehmer has refused to work with Kikal, but others in his party are less adamant. Earlier on Sunday, the People’s Party named its general secretary Christian Stocker as interim leader, but the president said Nehmer would remain chancellor for now.
Van der Bellen said he spent several hours talking to key officials, after which he had the impression that “the voices within the People’s Party that exclude working with the Freedom Party under its leader Herbert Kickl are quiet. It’s done.”
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The President said the development “potentially opens a new door”, prompting him to invite Kikal to a meeting on Monday morning.
Kickl’s Freedom Party came out on top in the autumn national election with 29.2% of the vote, but Van der Bellen tasked Nehmer with forming a new government as no other party was willing to work with Kickl.
That decision was heavily criticized by the Freedom Party and its supporters, with Kikal saying in October that it was “not right and not logical” that he did not receive a mandate to form a government.
“We are not responsible for the time wasted, the chaotic situation and the massive breach of trust that occurred,” Kickl said on social media Sunday afternoon. “On the contrary: it is clear that the Freedom Party has been and will remain the only stable factor in Austrian politics.”
Exterior view of the Austrian People’s Party headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 05, 2025. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)
Stocker addressed reporters on Sunday afternoon and confirmed that he had been “unanimously” appointed by his party to serve as interim leader. “I am very honored and happy,” he said.
He also welcomed the President’s decision to meet Kikal and said he now hoped that the leader of the party that emerged as the clear winner in the last election would be entrusted with the task of forming a government.
“If we are invited for talks to form a government, we will accept the invitation,” Stocker said.
In the past, Stocker has criticized Kickal, calling him a “security risk” to the country.
In its election programme, titled “Fortress Austria”, the Freedom Party called for “emigration of uninvited foreigners” to achieve a more “homogeneous” nation by strictly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum through an emergency law. Have done.
The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to exit the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project initiated by Germany. The Freedom Party also signed a friendship agreement with Putin’s United Russia party in 2016, which they now claim has expired.
Kickl has criticized “elites” in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the EU to Austria.
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Austria was plunged into political turmoil on Friday after the liberal party Neos walked out of coalition talks with the People’s Party and the Social Democrats. On Saturday the two remaining parties, which have only a one-seat majority in parliament, made another attempt to form a government – but that also failed after a few hours, with negotiators saying they were unable to agree on How to repair the budget deficit.
