FPÖ boss fails shortly before the finish

Government formation Austria

No Chancellor Kickl: FPÖ boss fails shortly before the finish

The right -wing populists faced their greatest triumph. Now everything is over for the time being. After the end of the coalition talks with the ÖVP, the next steps are unclear.

FPÖ boss Herbert Kickl failed shortly before moving into the Chancellery. After bursting the coalition talks, Kickl returned the order to form a government with the conservative ÖVP. “I don’t take this step without regret,” wrote the FPÖ boss.

The development initially prevents a right -wing populist Austrian head of government for the first time. In the past few days, it has become increasingly clear that the targeted alliance lacked the mandatory relationship of trust for a government.

The potential coalition had been observed with great concern in parts of the population. Up to 30,000 people took to the road in demonstrations against the right pressure. In view of the change of course of the ÖVP, many citizens felt that the ÖVP was changed. The conservatives had originally rejected an alliance with the FPÖ under Kickl.

In Austria, the political cards are now mixed completely again. The new elections long as probably traded are no longer the only scenario in the room. Rather, other variants were recently discussed by all parties represented in parliament: a minority government, a transitional government, an expert government – and only later new elections.

The main task is to adopt a budget. It has to show a restructuring path, because the deeply in a deeply in an economic crisis is threatened by EU deficit proceedings.

At the beginning of their coalition talks, FPÖ and ÖVP had agreed on savings measures for 2025 within a few days. Brussels then waived the initiation of a deficit procedure – but only for the time being.

However, the alliance talks were overshadowed by differences in external and security issues. The right -wing populists were against further support for Ukraine in the defense against Russia, which had started the war of attack against the neighboring country almost three years ago. On top of that, the FPÖ is extremely EU-critical, but the ÖVP is deeply convinced of the advantages of the European Union.

Overall, however, it became clear in the approximately four -week talks that both parties have a different worldview. While the ÖVP relies on the international integration of the small Alpine Republic, the FPÖ had repeatedly propagated its slogan from the “Fortress Austria”.

The FPÖ-ÖVP alliance talks were already the third attempt to form a government in Austria. Initially, ÖVP, Social Democratic SPÖ and Liberal Neos tried to agree on a triple coalition. The attempt failed after around 100 days. The following ÖVP-SPÖ talks ended very quickly at the beginning of January.

Finally, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, former head of the Greens in Austria, gave the government formation order with a heavy heart. ÖVP boss and Chancellor Karl Nehammer resigned because he had excluded a collaboration with Kickl. As party leader, the previous ÖVP general secretary Christian Stocker followed him.

Kickl may not only have played too high in the coalition talks, but also failed due to character traits. The extreme athlete – the 56 -year -old has mastered various triathlons – is considered a highly suspicious person without building confidence -building bridges. It occurs without a hint of self -doubt. The FPÖ boss is a notorious know-it-all, says his biographer Gernot Bauer. “It is very, very important to him to keep right.”

The ambitions of Kickls are certainly not buried with the current failure. According to current surveys, the FPÖ could now expect around 34 percent in new elections. The parliamentary election in autumn 2024 was almost 29 percent. According to the demoscopes, the SPÖ and the ÖVP would come to around 20 percent each. According to surveys, the liberal Neos are around 10, the Greens are 9 percent.

However, these surveys could be built on sand. Because many observers assume that ÖVP and SPÖ could change their top staff in the near future.

Neither Stocker nor the often criticized SPÖ boss Andreas Babler are firmly in the saddle. For the ÖVP, a well-known could also try to breathe into conservative new popularity: Ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, since his retreat from politics, entrepreneurs could, in the medium term, enter the political stage again.