Van der Bellen studies a coalition between extremists and conservatives or the calling of new elections
MADRID Jan. 5 () –
The president of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, is studying this Sunday the political course to follow in the country after the collapse yesterday afternoon of the negotiations for a coalition government that has taken away the chancellor and president of the Austrian People’s Party (OVP), Karl Niehammer, and reopens the possibility that the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), the most voted in the September 29 elections, finish jumping an already completely fractured “cordon sanitaire” and receive a mandate to form government.
“Let’s see if the Popular Party understands what has happened, even a little, the power that the population holds through the ballot box,” declared the leader of the FPO, Herbert Kickl. “Now they are facing the rubble of their prevention strategy,” he added without evading Van der Bellen’s opinion.
The head of the far-right party in Vienna, Dominik Nepp, has however offered two alternatives: a negotiation with the People’s Party, or the calling of new elections, as he made known last night in an interview with the Austrian public radio television ORF. According to the latest polls, the FPO would experience a notable increase in its support, going from the 29% obtained in the elections to the National Council to around 35%.
Media sources indicate that Van der Bellen is awaiting the popular party’s decision on the possibility of starting talks with the far right with a view to a government coalition in which he would be the junior partner, knowing that they are still behind in the polls. in the face of possible new elections. In any case, it will be necessary to appoint a new “transitional” chancellor, a position for which the former head of Government, Sebastian Kurz, has already been nominated.
The OVP leadership will meet today at 10:00 a.m. to discuss the situation, as announced by the party in a statement reported by the newspaper ‘Die Presse’.
Whatever happens, the party with the mandate to form a government will face the same economic challenge that has led to the collapse of this Saturday’s talks: according to the European Commission, the next Government will have to save between 18,000 and 24,000 million euros, in a country that has been in recession for two years, where unemployment is increasing and its budget deficit currently stands at 3.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), above the 3 percent limit set by Brussels.
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