Van der Bellen relies on the victory of the FPÖ in the legislative elections but warns that he will ensure compliance with the rule of law
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The president of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, tasked this Monday the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Herbert Kickl, with the task of forming a government after the collapse last weekend of previous negotiations between conservatives, social democrats and centrists.
In a speech to the nation after a meeting with Kickl, the Austrian president recalled that the Freedom Party received the most votes in the September legislative elections, and estimated that, after the meeting between the two this morning, he has extracted the conclusion that the far-right leader “has confidence in finding viable solutions” and wants to assume this responsibility.
The president has declared himself aware of the existence of the “cordon sanitaire” imposed by the three parties that failed in the coalition negotiations and has warned that he has not “taken the step lightly” of entrusting the FPÖ with the task of forming a government. and assured that “he will ensure respect for the rule of law.”
“I will ensure that the principles and norms of the Constitution are correctly respected,” said the Austrian head of state, aware of the social impact of this decision.
In fact, this morning hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the headquarters of the Presidency, the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, to protest against a possibility that has gained strength this weekend: a coalition of the FPO with the conservative People’s Party Austrian (OVP), which has not closed its doors to an alliance where it would be the minority partner.
Kickl, 55, was already Minister of the Interior between 2017 and 2019 in a government led by the OVP that was blown up due to the well-known ‘Ibiza case’, a corruption scandal detected when the FPO was part of the government coalition. of the former chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, also involved in other crimes.
The protest was called in part by the Jewish Students of Austria organization, whose president, Alon Ishay, has denounced Kickl as a phil-Nazi. “The fact that someone who calls himself People’s Chancellor”, a title coined by National Socialism, “can now become Chancellor of Austria brings back very dark memories for young Jews and the Jewish community,” he assured the newspaper ‘Die Presse’.
Although this is the first time that the far-right has received the mandate to form a government since 1945, the Freedom Party has been represented in three governments, none of which have reached the end of their original mandate.
In one of the first reactions, the social democratic leader Andreas Babler has described the news as “very sad”, lamented the lack of understanding between the negotiating parties during the failed talks and criticized a possible coalition between far-right and conservatives, which would have as its flag ” a radical policy of austerity”.
COLLAPSE OF NEGOTIATIONS
Van der Bellen’s decision comes after a tumultuous weekend marked by the breakdown of negotiations between OVP, the Social Democrats and the centrist Neos due to huge disagreements over economic policy; a collapse that has claimed the chancellor and leader of the Austrian Popular Party, Karl Nehammer.
Van der Bellen was on the verge of granting the FPO the power to form a government but ended up abandoning the idea after Nehammer informed him of the intention to establish a “cordon sanitaire” that has finally been blown up.
If Kickl fails in his talks with the FPO, or if they never come into existence, the option left for Austria is to hold new elections in a scenario that remains enormously advantageous for the far right. According to the latest polls, the FPO would experience a notable increase in its support in the second elections, going from the 29% obtained in the September National Council elections to around 35%.
The new leader of the Austrian Popular Party, Christian Stocker, who has taken the reins of the political formation from the outgoing chancellor, remains to react in this sense.
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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