MADRID Jan. 5 () –
The president of Austria, Alexander van der Bellen, has summoned the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, to explore options for forming a government this Monday after the failure of negotiations between the Austrian People’s Party ( ÖVP) and the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the resignation of the chancellor and “popular” leader, Karl Niehammer.
Van der Bellen plans to announce the new chancellor next week. “We need a government with a stable majority,” said Van der Bellen, according to German public television ÖRF.
“When you think you know what the situation is like and that you have experience, it turns out that there is a different situation. It is not an easy moment,” he explained.
From the FPÖ, Kickl has stressed that his formation is “the only stable factor” in the country’s politics and has criticized the attempts at “experimental governments” in the form of an “Austrian traffic light coalition” in reference to the government pact of Germany.
Kickl has defended the need to act with “honesty, clarity, predictability, stability and credibility.” “I stick to what I have always said: first the people and then the chancellor,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the new leader of the ÖVP and possible partner of the FPÖ, Christian Stocker, has expressed the party’s willingness to negotiate with the extreme right in the face of a “different” situation.
“If they invite us to negotiate to form the government, we will accept this invitation,” he stated. The ÖVP “will not hide from its political responsibilities,” according to Stocker.
Meanwhile, from the SPÖ, its leader, Andreas Babler, has criticized the willingness of the “popular” to negotiate with the FPÖ. “Kickl is not a democrat. He is a danger. A blue-black coalition will make cuts and that will affect many,” he warned, referring to the colors that identify FPÖ and ÖVP.
“The SPÖ will continue to represent the interests of democracy with all its strength,” according to Babler, who stressed that he feels he has “strong support from all sectors of the party.”
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