Agreement to form a tripartite government in Austria without the far right, which won the elections

BerlinThe Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and the liberal party NEOS have finally reached a coalition agreement to form a government. After intense negotiations, the parties have achieved the agreement they were looking for to exclude the far-right party Freedom Party (FPÖ), which was the most voted party in the elections, from the executive. September 29 elections, with 28.8% of the vote. The far-right Herbert Kickl failed in his attempt to form a government with the conservatives.

The next chancellor of Austria will be the conservative Christian Stocker, who will become chancellor somewhat by chance. Stocker, 64, took over the leadership of the ÖVP on an interim basis at the beginning of January, when Former Chancellor Karl Nehammer resigned. Nehammer threw in the towel after the failure of the first round of negotiations between the ÖVP, the SPÖ and NEOS and ahead the possibility of a coalition agreement between his party and the far right, which he had rejected while the controversial Kickl was the leader of the FPÖ.

Stocker, a lawyer by profession, has been involved in municipal politics for 35 years. His highest office until now was that of deputy mayor of Wiener Neustadt, a town 50 kilometres from Vienna, and he had been a member of parliament since 2019. Now the accidental chancellor will have to take the reins of the Austrian government.

The tripartite agreement puts an end to five months of political uncertainty in Austria, starting with the general election in September 2024. The country will thus have its first three-party government since 1949. The conservatives and the Social Democrats had previously governed a single-party system.

"Coalition of losers"

Kickl, who called for early elections, considers it a "coalition of losers." In the elections, the conservatives won 26.27%, the Social Democrats 21.14% and the liberals of NEOS 9.14%. Former Austrian Minister of the Interior, The far-right leader is a controversial figure in Austria. He is anti-immigration, Islamophobic, anti-vaxxer, pro-Russian and a declared admirer of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whom he sees as a role model.

The new chancellor, however, has defended the pact. "With this agreement we leave behind the most difficult government negotiations in the history of our country, thanks to a profoundly Austrian principle: people understand each other by talking," said Stocker when he announced the government program at a press conference, entitled Now we do the right thing. For Austria. "While others reject this cooperation and shirk their responsibility, we establish consensus and the ability to act," reads the tripartite agreement, in a clear reference, without naming him, to Kickl.

The future chancellor has promised the Austrians that they will have "a stable and capable government." He argued that this is important "because of the numerous international challenges, such as the war in Ukraine," and also said that "solutions are needed in the area of migration." Among the promises of the Austrian tripartite is a tightening of the asylum policy and savings measures to consolidate the budget and reduce the deficit.

The Social Democrat leader and future vice-chancellor, Andreas Babler, has said he is "proud" of the tripartite agreement. "Not only because this collaboration has prevented a chancellor like Herbert Kickl and because we ensure the rule of law and democracy, but also because together we are doing the right thing," she said. Liberal leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger said the programme was entitled Let's do the right thing because "people need answers and this programme provides answers."

The pact provides for the conservatives to hold the chancellery and five ministries, including the interior and economics portfolios; the social democrats to hold six ministries, including the vice-chancellery and the finance and justice portfolios; and the liberals to head the ministries of European and international affairs and education.