Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen entrusted Herbert Kikel with the task of forming the government. He is the leader of the right-wing extremist party and a supporter of Austria’s Free Russia. The president announced this after the meeting with Kikel, which lasted for more than an hour. Earlier, Karl Nehammer from the Austrian People’s Party announced that he would resign from the position of the Prime Minister after the failure of the coalition negotiations.
The president said in a televised statement that he entrusted the formation of the government to the leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), which won the autumn parliamentary elections. The chairman of FPO is the former minister of internal affairs, Herbert Kikle.
– One of the most important constitutional tasks of the president is to provide the country with an effective federal government, Alexander Van der Bellen said. He justified the decision to hand over this mission to Kikel with the emergence of new situations in the political arena of Austria.
– Previously, leaders (other groups – ed.) categorically refused to cooperate with Kikel. Karl Nehhammer (current Chancellor of Austria and former leader of OeVP -ed.) tried to form a three-party coalition with SPOe and NEOS. As is known, this negotiation ended unsuccessfully. Nehammer announced his resignation and the OeVP withdrew its opposition to Kickel. This is a new situation, explained the head of state.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and the head of the FPOe Herbert KicklPhoto from January 6, 2025PAP/EPA/MAX SLOVENCIK
Herbert Kickle with the mission of forming a government in Austria
Van der Bellen emphasized that the meeting on Monday is to determine whether there is a real chance of establishing a majority government in the new conditions. – My constitutional duty is to check the possibility of establishing a government with more than 50 percent of its share, – said the president, who emphasized that various scenarios were discussed in the conversation with Kikel.
The head of the FPO apparently convinced Van der Bellen that he is capable of forming an effective cabinet, so the president entrusted him with the task of forming a new federal government together with the OeVP. – Respect for the votes (citizens – ed.) requires that the will of the voters be reflected in the form of the government, – explained the head of state.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and Herbert Kickl Photo by January 6, 2025PAP/EPA/MAX SLOVENCIK
Earlier, after a meeting at the Hofburg Palace, Kickle left the building without greeting reporters and without commenting on the conversation. At the same time, he informed that he is not going to comment to the media at this stage. Then ORF TV reporters asked if it was a good conversation or not, he answered: – It’s always good to talk with him (the president – ed.).
Herbert Kickle is the chairman of the FPOe from 2021. Due to his pro-Russian views and nationalist declarations after the parliamentary elections last September, the leaders of all other parties were strongly opposed to a coalition with the FPOe if the party’s leader became the new prime minister.
Failure of coalition negotiations
After the failure of negotiations on the formation of a government coalition without FPO, Chancellor Nehammer announced on Saturday evening that he will resign from the position of the head of the government and the chairman of the conservative OeVP. The day before this, the Chancellor’s party made the last attempt to negotiate a coalition with the Social Democratic Party.
The nationalist and pro-Russian FPO won the parliamentary elections on September 29 last year with 28.8 percent of the vote. In second place was the ruling OeVP (26.3 percent), followed by the SPOe (21.1 percent), the liberal NEOS (New Austria and Liberal Forum; 9.2 percent) and the Greens (8.3 percent).
Despite the victory of the libertarians, President Van der Bellen entrusted the task of forming a new government to the current chancellor Nehammer. He made this decision with the fact that the Christian-Democratic and Social-Democratic parties definitely refused to join the cabinet headed by the head of the FPO. Van der Bellen claimed that these groups accuse the party of extremism, close ties to Russia, limiting the role of women in public life and using language that deepens social divisions.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/MAX SLOVENCIK
