Austria’s
coalition talks in disarray as parties fail to unite against far right
Austria’s
far-right Freedom Party won the September election but has been shut out of
government negotiations.
January 3,
2025 12:26 pm CET
By Seb
Starcevic
Austria’s
government coalition talks fell apart Friday after one of the three centrist
parties involved quit the negotiations, undermining an alliance to block the
rise of the far right.
The smallest
of the three parties hoping to form Austria’s next government, the liberal NEOS
party, withdrew from the talks Friday, leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger announced
at a press conference.
Meinl-Reisinger
cited budget and competitiveness as sticking points in the negotiations with
the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), led by Chancellor Karl
Nehammer, and center-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), accusing them of being
unwilling to think “beyond the next election day” and pursue “fundamental
reforms.”
The collapse
of the talks, which formally began in November, strengthens the hand of the
anti-migrant, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPÖ), which doubled its vote share
and surged to first place in September’s national election but has been blocked
from forming a government, with all other major parties refusing to work with
it.
FPÖ General
Secretary Michael Schnedlitz called on Nehammer to resign after the failure of
the coalition talks, which he dubbed a “political monstrosity” and a
“loser-traffic-light coalition.”
Even without
the support of NEOS, the SPÖ and ÖVP could continue negotiations on their own
and form a two-way coalition, as the two parties together hold 92 of the 183
seats in the lower house of Austria’s parliament — a wafer-thin majority of
just one seat.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário