Austria’s president on Monday tasked Herbert Kickl, the outspoken leader of the Alpine country’s far-right Freedom Party, with the task of trying to form a governing coalition, three months after the party won the most votes in the general elections.
“Mr. Kickl is confident that he can find workable solutions in the context of government negotiations and wants this responsibility,” President Alexander Van der Bellen said during a five-minute speech after meeting with Kickl.
The president’s request sets in motion a process that could make Kickl, an anti-immigrant firebrand who has vowed to make the country a “fortress,” Austria’s first far-right chancellor by the end of the year.
What led to this?
The Freedom Party came first in the September 29 elections, with almost 30% of the vote, but was well short of a majority. Despite the victory at the polls, it initially seemed that the party, founded by former Nazis in the 1950s, would not be part of the new government because mainstream parties refused to work with Kickl, who they saw as a danger to democracy.
Karl Nehammer, chancellor and head of the conservative Austrian People’s Party, which came in second place with 26.5%, was tasked by President Van der Bellen with attempting to form a government. Chancellor Nehammer has turned to the centre-left Social Democrats and the new Neos party to try to reach an agreement on a coalition government. But they have been unable to bridge their differences on key budget issues. At the end of last week, Neos first withdrew from the talks and soon after the conservatives and Social Democrats announced that the talks had failed.
On Saturday, Nehammer announced his resignation as both chancellor and party leader. His hastily elected replacement as party leader, Christian Stocker, then announced that, despite promises made during the election campaign, the People’s Party, known as ÖVP, would be open to coalition talks with the Freedom Party.
What is the Freedom Party?
The party was founded not long after World War II by former members of the SS, the Nazi paramilitary police. The party introduces Mr Kickl using the word “Volkskanzler”, which is German for people’s chancellor, before election speeches, which evoke the rise of German fascism and Adolf Hitler.
He has a history of vilifying migrants in Austria as criminals and welfare sponges. Under the banner of “Fortress Austria,” Kickl called for a temporary suspension of accepting new asylum seekers and a law banning them from becoming Austrian citizens.
The party is also close to Moscow – it signed a cooperation contract with President Vladimir V. Putin’s United Russia Party in 2016 – and is opposed to aid to Ukraine to support its defense against Russian invasion. He also opposed sanctions against Russia. Citing the country’s constitutional neutrality, the party is also against Austria’s membership in NATO.
The party has already been in national government five times, but always as a relatively weak junior partner. Kickl was interior minister from 2017 to 2019, when a scandal involving one of Kickl’s predecessors as party leader forced the then-Conservative chancellor to end that coalition. The party has also been in state-level coalition with the Conservatives.
What are the possible outcomes for the Austrian government?
While conservatives and the Freedom Party differ on some key points, such as their views on Russia’s war in Ukraine, they overlap on many other points. Experts believe that a coalition agreement – setting out the government’s planned program – between the two right-wing parties will be easier to work out than the previous attempt with parties from across the political spectrum. In Austria these talks usually last weeks or even months.
Mr. Kickl has insisted since the election on leading the government. Given that the Freedom Party has the largest number of seats in the 183-seat parliament – 57 to 51 for the Conservatives – it has a good claim to be appointed chancellor.
If the parties failed to find common ground, the president would have to call new elections, because no other combination of parties could achieve a majority. A new vote so soon would be extremely rare for Austria.
Why is this important?
Kickl would become the first far-right chancellor in Austria since the end of the Second World War. While voters in many European countries have moved to the right, few leaders have been as outspoken against immigrants and foreigners as he has, which is sure to increase tensions between Austria’s partners in the European Union. (Since becoming Italian prime minister in 2022, Giorgia Meloni has distanced herself from her far-right past, aligning herself with the Western mainstream on key international issues. In contrast, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – who visited Vienna on last year at the invitation of the Freedom Party – has for years been at odds with his fellow European Union leaders over his right-wing nationalist positions.)
Although Austria has only 9.1 million citizens, its location near the geographic center of the EU and its trade relations, particularly with Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, give the country outsized importance .
What was the reaction?
Several hundred people protested outside the Hofburg, the presidential palace in central Vienna, over Van der Bellen and Kickl’s meeting on Monday. They carried signs warning against right-wing extremism and chanted: “No more Volkskanzler.”
Muslim and Jewish groups expressed their concerns following September’s national elections. Oskar Deutsch, president of Vienna’s Jewish community, said at the time that the Freedom Party’s success seemed “threatening” to many in his community.