Vienna, Jan 8 (IANS) Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will serve as the country’s interim Chancellor following Karl Nehammer’s recent resignation from the post, Austrian news agency APA reported on Wednesday.
Schallenberg will lead the caretaker government after Nehammer’s formal resignation on Friday until a new government is formed, APA quoted the office of Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen as saying.
Schallenberg, 55, has served as Austria’s foreign minister since 2019.
Van der Bellen on Monday tasked Herbert Kickl, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, with forming a new government after recent coalition talks without the far-right party collapsed.
Van der Bellen announced the decision following a one-hour talk with Kickl around noon on January 6. Speaking at a press conference, the president said that the political landscape had shifted, as the People’s Party was now ready to negotiate a coalition under Kickl’s leadership.
Kickl expressed confidence in finding viable solutions and affirmed willingness to take the responsibility, Van der Bellen was quoted as saying by the APA.
The Freedom Party has previously served as a junior coalition partner but has never led an Austrian government.
The Austrian president’s latest move follows the collapse of three-party coalition talks involving the People’s Party, the Social Democratic Party and the NEOS party. Subsequent two-party talks also failed after the NEOS’ withdrawal.
In the September parliamentary election, the Freedom Party secured around 29 per cent of the vote, ahead of the People’s Party with 26.3 per cent and the Social Democratic Party with 21.1 per cent. Despite winning the parliamentary presidency, the Freedom Party had been unable to secure coalition partners to form a government.
In October, Van der Bellen tasked the People’s Party with forming a government. However, coalition talks led by the party dragged on from mid-November until their sudden collapse, Xinhua news agency reported.
Karl Nehammer resigned as Chancellor and chairman of the People’s Party after the negotiations failed. Nehammer had consistently opposed forming a coalition with the Freedom Party under Kickl.
The People’s Party then appointed Secretary-General Christian Stocker as interim leader. Though Stocker has been a sharp critic of Kickl, he said that his party was open to coalition negotiations with the Freedom Party.
Stocker defended the shift, citing the need to get a stable government and avoid wasting time with election campaigns.
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