Austria’s chancellor to step down after coalition talks collapse

Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer arrives for an Informal Meeting of Heads of State or Government of the European Union in Budapest, Hungary, on November 8, 2024. Agence France-Presse

VIENNA — Austria’s conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Saturday he would step down in the “coming days” after breaking off coalition talks with the Social Democrats over disagreements on key issues.

The surprise move might lead to snap polls being called in the Alpine EU member country — or the conservatives might negotiate with the far right that won national elections in September.

Nehammer announced in a video message on X that he would step down “both as chancellor and party chairman of the People’s Party (OeVP) in the coming days and enable an orderly transition”.

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The development comes just one day after Austria’s liberal party withdrew from three-party coalition talks to form a centrist government.

The aim had been to sideline the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) that won September elections with 29 percent but was unable to find partners to form a national government in the Alpine EU member state.

‘Bulwark against radicals’

Nehammer said on Saturday that he had wanted to be “the force of the political centre in order to build a bulwark against the radicals” who “only live by describing problems” rather than solving them.

He “always stood for stability”, he added — even if that was “not sexy in politics”.

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FPOe leader Herbert Kickl in a statement called the parties involved in the coalition talks “losers”, saying that “instead of stability, we have chaos” after three “wasted months”.

The conservative People’s Party came second with 26 percent, while the centre-left Social Democrats (SPOe) gained 21 percent in September.

That led Nehammer to pursue talks with the SPOe and the liberal party NEOS, who got nine percent, to form a government to shut out the far right, but those three-way talks collapsed on Friday.

The remaining two parties had vowed to continue their work, but after just one day Nehammer announced on X that “agreement with the SPOe is not possible on key issues.

“We are therefore ending negotiations with the SPOe,” he added.

Wealth and inheritance taxes, pensions as well as different views on how to reign in the country’s ballooning budget deficit have been cited as the main sticking points in the coalition talks.

‘Right-wing extremist chancellor’

SPOe leader Andreas Babler said those within the conservative party that “have always flirted” with the far right have “prevailed”, warning of a “FPOe-OeVP government with a right-wing extremist chancellor”.

On Friday, President Alexander Van der Bellen had called on the OeVP and SPOe to form a government “without delay”.

Van der Bellen had initially tasked the conservatives with forming a stable government that respects the “foundations of our liberal democracy”.

In the past, he has voiced reservations about the FPOe’s Kickl.

If the OeVP decides to form a government with the FPOe, the president “must be prepared to swear in Kickl as chancellor”, or if the two parties do not enter talks or find an agreement “there will be new elections”, analyst Peter Filzmaier told AFP.

The latest opinion polls currently put the FPOe at around 35 percent.

The OeVP has been part of government in the Alpine country of nine million since 1987.

It has governed several times with the FPOe as junior partners since 2000.

While Nehammer in the past said he was open to talks with the FPOe, he has repeatedly ruled out working with Kickl.

A three-party governing coalition would have been a first since 1949 in Austria, which faces a flagging economy.

Nehammer had already warned that the coalition talks would be an uphill task.