Vienna, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 4th Jan, 2025) Austria’s three-way coalition talks to form a new government collapsed Friday after a liberal party announced its surprise withdrawal from the negotiations.
The shock exit by the liberals came after the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) emerged on top for the first time in national elections on September 29.
The party won 28.8 percent of the vote but has been unable to find partners to form a national government.
The conservative People’s Party (OeVP) came second with 26.3 percent, while the centre-left Social Democrats (SPOe) won 21.1 percent.
That led the outgoing conservative chancellor Karl Nehammer to pursue talks with the SPOe and the liberal party NEOS to form a government.
But in a hastily arranged press conference Friday, NEOS head Beate Meinl-Reisinger said she had informed Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen that her party “will not continue the negotiations”, citing little progress on her party’s requested reforms.
Meinl-Reisinger nonetheless offered parliamentary support to the conservatives and social-democrats, saying that “we are not saying no to reforms, to the compromises that have already been reached”.
After the surprise announcement, the OeVP and the SPOe, which together have a majority of just one seat, traded blame for the failed talks but later signalled they were ready to continue their efforts to form a coalition.
Nehammer said he “regretted” the decision by NEOS, while calling on the “constructive forces of the political centre” to join the conservatives on their path.
Later Friday, Van der Bellen said both the OeVP and the SPOe had informed him about their willingness to work on a coalition, calling on them to form a government “without delay”.
A three-party governing coalition would have been a first since 1949 in Austria, which faces a flagging economy as well as a ballooning budget deficit.
Nehammer had said that the coalition talks, which began in October — initially without the liberals — would be an uphill task.
It has taken an average of 62 days after elections to form a government in Austria.
