Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen met Kickl in Vienna on Monday morning and tasked him with forming a new government, after coalition talks between mainstream parties collapsed late last week after the liberal NEOS walked out of talks.
“Mr. Kickl has the confidence … to find sustainable solutions,” Van der Bellen said after the meeting. “Therefore, I instructed him to start talks with the conservative ÖVP to begin negotiations on forming a government,” reports Politico.
Earlier, conservative Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced his resignation and stated that “no agreement” with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) was possible “on key points” for the formation of the government. The new leader of Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), Christian Stocker, said the ÖVP “will not refuse talks with the FPÖ”.
We remind you that the FPÖ has taken a firm position opposing European support for Ukraine, using the justification of Austrian neutrality to de facto take a pro-Russian position. Kickl also promised to use Austria’s veto to block European financing of Ukraine, its accession to the EU, as well as “harmful” sanctions against Russia, writes Jutarnji.hr.
He had already declared himself the “future Volkskanzler”, that is, the people’s chancellor, a term first applied to Adolf Hitler in 1933.
The FPÖ, founded by former Nazis in 1956, won the most votes in the European Parliament elections in Austria in September, with their slogan “Stop the madness of the European Union.” Initially, the FPÖ was blocked from forming a government because all the other major parties refused to cooperate with them. However, it seems that in the end they relented.
(Vijesti.ba)
