Austria will get the first right-wing government since World War II – National
The leader of Austria’s Freedom Party won the mandate on Monday to form a new government, the first to be led by a ruling party since World War II if he succeeds.
The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, won Austria’s parliamentary elections in September, taking 28.8 percent of the vote and beating outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party into second place.
But in October, President Alexander Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the first chance to form a new government after Nehammer’s party said it would not enter a government with the Freedom Party under Kickl and others refused to cooperate with the Freedom Party at all. Those efforts to build a governing coalition without the far right collapsed in the first few days of the new year and Nehammer said on Saturday he would resign.
The People’s Party then signaled that it might be open to working under Kickl. Van der Bellen said after meeting with Kickl for about an hour at the presidential palace on Monday that he tasked the leader of the Freedom Party to hold talks with the People’s Party to form a new government.
“I did not take this step lightly,” the president told reporters. “I will continue to ensure that the principles and laws of our constitution are properly respected and followed.”
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The far right and the Conservatives have governed together before, but in recent times with the Freedom Party as a junior partner. Most recently, they ruled Austria from 2017 to 2019 in a government where Kickl – a 56-year-old who likes to be offended – served as interior minister. It collapsed in the scandal that affected the leader of the Freedom Party at the time.
Coalition talks between the ruling party and the Conservatives are not guaranteed to succeed, but there are no viable alternatives to the current parliament and polls suggest new elections could soon strengthen the Freedom Party.
In its election manifesto titled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party called for “immigration of uninvited foreigners,” in order to achieve a “homogeneous” nation by strictly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum through an emergency law.
The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, strongly criticizes Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to withdraw from the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. Kickl criticized the “specialists” in Brussels and called for some powers to be returned from the European Union to Austria.
Van der Bellen noted that the new government will not face an easy task.
“The economic situation is difficult. Austria is in a state of continuous recession, unemployment is increasing; at the same time, our government budget must be reorganized,” he said. “It is unlikely that all methods will be popular, but they will have to be used.”
He also pointed out the national threats that Austria is facing, especially because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and pointed out the importance of “constructively strengthening European cooperation in the Union, and in the interest of Austrian industries and exporters.”
And the head of state, a liberal from the environmentalist Greens, said that he and Kickl discussed media freedom in Austria in detail.
Kickl hopes to find “effective solutions” in the coalition talks, “and he wants this job,” the president said.
Kickl walked past reporters without comment as he left the meeting.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
