More than three months after the victory of the anti-immigration party FPÖ in the legislative elections, conservative Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced his resignation in the “coming days” following the failure of negotiations to form a government coalition with the social-socialists. Democrats from SPÖ and Liberals from NEOS.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, in office since December 2021, declared on January 4 on his X page that he would leave office “in the coming days”. The reason is the failure of negotiations to form a government coalition between his party, the ÖVP, and the SPÖ, the daily reported Der Standard.
“I will step down as both Chancellor and Chairman of the People’s Party [l’ÖVP] in the coming days, and will allow for an orderly transition,” he said.
Wir haben lange und redlich verhandelt. In our opinion, this is the case with the SPÖ keine Einigung möglich. Die Volkspartei steht zu ihren Versprechen: Wir werden leistungs- und wirtschaftsfeindlichen Maßnahmen oder neuen Steuern nicht zustimmen. Daher beenden wir die Verhandlungen… pic.twitter.com/evKgQbtTwq
— Karl Nehammer (@karlnehammer) January 4, 2025
According to Der Standardthe ÖVP is currently considering several candidates to replace Karl Nehammer as party leader. These could include Caroline Edtstadler and ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
The ÖVP and the SPÖ (Social Democratic Party of Austria) negotiated the formation of a government coalition. Negotiations which the ÖVP put an end to, declared Karl Nehammer in his message posted on the American platform.
“No agreement is possible with the SPÖ on essential points,” he declared, assuring that his party had negotiated “long and honestly”. “We will not accept measures against productivity and businesses, nor new taxes. This is why we are ending the negotiations,” he said.
An “alliance of losers”
The last Austrian parliamentary elections took place at the end of September and were won by the anti-immigration Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) with 28.85% of the vote, but other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with the leader of the FPÖ, Herbert Kickl, recalled the BBC. The ÖVP obtained 26.27% and the SPÖ 21.14%. These two parties attempted to form a government coalition.
Social Democrats leader Andreas Babler said he regretted the People’s Party’s decision to withdraw from the negotiations. “This is not a good decision for our country,” he said. On January 3, Andreas Babler reported the end of negotiations with New Austria and the Liberal Forum (NEOS), the liberal party which came fourth in the legislative elections with 9.14% of the vote, accusing them of placing “party tactics above interests of the State.
“Today it is mainly about budgetary questions, but also the question of investment in the future,” declared the president of the NEOS party, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, at a press conference. , even mentioning “steps backwards” during the negotiations.
Herbert Kickl, whose party came out on top during these legislative elections which took place more than three months ago, described these negotiations as an “alliance of losers”.
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