Talks to form a coalition government led by Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, or FPÖ, will begin on Friday, the party said on Thursday, as thousands of people protested in Vienna against the prospect of the country’s first FPÖ-led government.
The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPÖ won the September parliamentary election with about 29% of the vote, but was initially sidelined as centrist parties tried to form a ruling coalition without it. That effort failed over the weekend and FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl was tasked with forming a government.
“The first step: negotiations on the budget by tomorrow,” Kickel said in a statement Thursday evening, as protesters held signs saying “Kick out the Nazis” and “History is repeating itself” at the intersection between the president’s and the president’s offices. Were gathered. Chancellor.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP), who is leading centrist coalition talks, said on Saturday he was stepping down because he was broke. His successor as head of the caretaker government, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, is due to take office on Friday.
Various non-governmental organizations concerned with human rights, refugees and the environment called for Thursday’s protests.
“Our republic is at a crossroads,” organizers said in a statement. “The threat of a far-right Chancellor is looming and with him democracy, human rights, the judiciary, independent media and social cohesion in our country are under attack.”
More than 10,000 protesters gathered tightly together in the square and the streets leading to it, whistling, jeering and shining their phone lights towards the chancellor’s office while chanting “Kick out” in a peaceful atmosphere.
The ÖVP, which under Nehmer had said it would not govern with Kickal, calling him a conspiracy theorist and security threat, now under interim leader Christian Stocker says it would like to reach a coalition agreement with Kickal to hold snap elections. Likes.
However, on Wednesday Stocker said he had sought assurances from Kickl that he wanted to keep Austria free from Russian interference – a reference to FPÖ positions including opposing sanctions against Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Polls show that support for the FPÖ has increased since September and the party now has a lead of more than 10 percentage points over the ÖVP.
“We are in talks with the FPÖ,” the ÖVP said in a statement minutes before the FPÖ, confirming that Kickl and Stocker had held preliminary discussions and that the first issue would be the budget.
“For us, the most important cornerstone is Austria’s sovereignty against foreign influence, especially from Russia, Austria as a reliable partner in the EU and our Western liberal democracy based on the rule of law,” it said.
