Political earthquake in Austria
Right-wing populist Herbert Kickl receives government contract
Updated on January 6, 2025 – 1:57 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
Last September, Herbert Kickl narrowly won the Austrian election with the FPÖ. Now he is reaching for the chancellorship.
The country needs a government that can work, especially in the current extremely difficult economic situation. Kickl assured him in the conversation that he was confident of taking on the role of Chancellor, said Van der Bellen. “Respect for the vote requires that the Federal President respect the majority,” even if he himself may have different wishes and ideas. “I didn’t take this step lightly,” he said.
The hour-long meeting between Van der Bellen and Kickl was accompanied by protests. Hundreds of demonstrators marched in front of the presidential chancellery, warning of a huge shift to the right.
The FPÖ won the parliamentary election in September with almost 29 percent of the vote. At first no one wanted to govern with the right-wing populists.
However, the ÖVP changed course after Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced his resignation at the weekend. She has declared her willingness to form a government as a junior partner of the FPÖ.
The conservative ÖVP and the right-wing FPÖ had already formed coalitions in the 2000s and between 2017 and 2019 – albeit under ÖVP heads of government.
First, however, the two parties would have to agree on a government program again. On issues such as migration and taxes, the views of the two parties appear to largely coincide. But there are differences between the Moscow-friendly and EU-critical FPÖ and the ÖVP when it comes to foreign and security policy, among other things.
Joint concepts for overcoming the deep budget crisis are also completely open, said the President of the Fiscal Council, Christoph Badelt, on ORF. It is questionable whether a new chancellor from the FPÖ would want to start with unpopular austerity measures or tax increases, Badelt continued. “We all don’t know what the FPÖ would actually be willing to do when it really comes down to budget consolidation.” Austria urgently needs to restructure its budget in order to avoid an EU deficit procedure.
The EU budget rules stipulate that the budget deficit in EU countries must not exceed three percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The debt level should also not exceed 60 percent of GDP. The EU Commission expects a budget deficit of around 3.6 percent in Austria for 2025 and 2026.
The head of state, former chairman of the Green Party, had repeatedly emphasized in his statements that he would ensure “to the best of his knowledge and belief” that the fundamental pillars of democracy – he mentioned the rule of law, the separation of powers, free, independent media and the EU -Membership – would continue to be upheld.
After the parliamentary election, van der Bellen, contrary to custom, did not commission the FPÖ, as the party with the largest number of votes, to form a government. He took into account that none of the other parties wanted to form a coalition with the FPÖ under Kickl and, in his view, such an order would only have meant “empty kilometers”.
A few days ago, coalition talks between the ÖVP, SPÖ and the liberal Neos failed after weeks of negotiations. The attempt at a two-party coalition between the ÖVP and SPÖ was also quickly ended. The cards were now reshuffled.
