Austria's new chancellor, Karl Nehammer, was previously the country's interior minister and is considered a hardliner on migration issues. Before embarking on a political career, he served several years in the military and then graduated in political communication.

"It is important that we hold our lines," Nehammer said after announcing his chancellorship on Friday. "That we say clearly what is necessary when it comes to the question of asylum and migration. When it comes to the question of security for the people in our country."

READ MORE

UN migration report laid bare

Soccer's Ballon d'Or in charts

Omicron: 'Too late' to use border controls

The incoming chancellor is likely to continue Austria's current COVID-19 measures, which are among the most restrictive in Europe, including a full lockdown and a pending vaccine mandate.

Individual freedom needs to end where the freedom of others begins, Nehammer emphasized. And he pushed for solidarity in society, for Austrians to "look out for each other" – saying freedom should not be limited by party-political decisions or ideological affiliations, but by the virus.

In recent years, Austria's government has been infamously unstable – alleged corruption, two changes of chancellor within less than two months including the rise and fall of Sebastian Kurz, who is now the subject of corruption investigations.

When Kurz surprisingly withdrew from politics on Thursday, it marked a power shift within the ruling Austrian People's Party. A few hours later, transitional chancellor Alexander Schallenberg also resigned to make space for a new leader. 

"This is all a mess. We no longer know who is actually leading politics," Vienna resident Raimund Kellerberger complained, giving voice to the challenge faced by Nehammer in the coming months as he seeks to manage the coronavirus, the fragile economic recovery and his own career.