Austria's 'far-right' FPO asked to form government

Turbulent hours on Vienna's Ballhausplatz. Shortly after coalition talks between then-Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative People's Party (OVP) and two other parties failed, Nehammer stepped down on Sunday. 

That opened the way for President Alexander Van der Bellen to task the Freedom Party (FPO) with forming a coalition government. Euroskeptic, migration-critical and often described as far-right, the FPO was founded in the 1950s under a leader who had been a senior officer in Hitler's elite paramilitary SS. 

Having won last September's parliamentary election with 29 percent of the vote – and following the collapse of attempts to form a coalition without it – the FPO will now enter talks with the OVP, its only potential partner. If successful, it could lead a government for the first time in its history and become the most right-wing party to lead Austria since World War II.

Dramatic reversal

The announcement marks a dramatic reversal for Van der Bellen – a former leader of the left-wing Greens who has long been critical of the FPO and has clashed with its leader Herbert Kickl. He previously said he would "not try to promote an anti-European party, a party that does not condemn Russia's war against Ukraine, through my actions."

However, the collapse of the coalition talks left the president with few options. Snap elections would have further delayed Austria from having a working government able to deal with the country's economic slowdown and rising debt.

Furthermore, many in Austria fear that refusing to give the FPO the governing mandate – despite it winning an election and its rivals failing to form a coalition in talks from which it was pointedly excluded – would only increase the number of protest voters, possibly letting the party gain an absolute majority during future elections.

As chancellor, Nehammer had long insisted his OVP party would not govern with Kickl, saying the FPO leader was a conspiracy theorist and security threat. With Nehammer gone, so is that red line. His interim successor as OVP leader, Christian Stocker, confirmed on Sunday that his party would join coalition talks led by Kickl.

Similarites and differences

The OVP and FPO overlap on various issues, particularly over taking a tough line on immigration.

The thorniest issue in the centrists' coalition talks, however, was how to shrink the budget deficit, which is forecast to exceed the EU's limit of 3 percent of economic output in 2024 and 2025.

While both parties call for tax cuts, the FPO has pledged to take a knife to some of the OVP's vested interests, such as the powerful Chamber of Commerce. They have also clashed over the FPO's opposition to aid for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, and current plans for a missile defense system.

Whether the two parties can find enough common ground remains to be seen, but the president has now given them to mandate to discuss it.  

"I have... tasked him with launching talks with the People's Party to form a government," Van der Bellen said in a televised address after meeting Kickl, adding: "I did not take this step lightly."

As Kickl left his meeting with the president, hundreds of protesters including Jewish students and left-wing activists booed, whistled, chanted "Nazis out" and waved banners with slogans such as "We don't want a right-wing extremist Austria."