The leader of the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, doubled down on his criticism of Chancellor Karl Nehammer for refusing to form a government with the FPÖ following the national elections that were held more than two weeks ago.
At a press conference on Wednesday, October 16th, Kickl called the leader of the governing centre-right People’s Party (ÖVP) an “offended election loser,” pointing to his own FPÖ winning the elections with 28.8%, followed by ÖVP in second place with 26.3%.
Both parties campaigned on a platform of introducing tougher asylum policies and stopping illegal migration, yet Nehammer has vowed not to collaborate with the Freedom Party as long as Kickl is in charge.
Despite winning, the FPÖ does not have a majority in parliament. Its only likely coalition partner is the ÖVP, with whom it governed Austria between 2017-19. The other parties that entered parliament—the Social Democrats (SPÖ), the Greens, and the liberal NEOS party—have much less in common with the FPÖ and refuse to cooperate with the party.
“I will not be an enabler for Herbert Kickl,” Nehammer told a brief press conference after meeting with the FPÖ leader on Tuesday. The meeting was held in accordance with the wishes of the country’s president, Alexander Van der Bellen, who has asked the leaders of the three largest parties—FPÖ, ÖVP, and SPÖ—to negotiate a way out of the election conundrum.
The most likely scenario is for the People’s Party to form a grand coalition with the Social Democrats, with NEOS joining in as a junior partner.
Herbert Kickl has said that this scenario would be a rejection of the will of the voters, who clearly signalled their desire for there to be a centre-right government involving the FPÖ and the ÖVP. He also said any coalition without the FPÖ would be undemocratic since his party won the election.
Kickl claims that Karl Nehammer’s decision to hold a press conference straight after their meeting on Tuesday was a sign that Nehammer already knew what he was going to tell reporters and had not thought seriously about Kickl’s offer of a joint government. At the press conference, the chancellor said Kickl was not “responsible politically,” and cited the FPÖ’s anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown campaign during the COVID pandemic as the reason.
At his own press conference on Wednesday, Kickl said that it almost seems like the decision to bring together a centre-left government has already been made. The ÖVP, he said, has missed its chance to adjust and correct the course of its policies. The People’s Party has been in a coalition with the Greens over the last five years, but he believes the centre-right party has much more in common with the FPÖ than the other parties. Kickl said he had put forward proposals at his meeting with Nehammer—on topics such as migration, the budget, and housing—and told him that their cooperation doesn’t have to be based on friendship, but professionalism, adding,
Why shouldn’t that work in politics? It is not uncommon for such a partnership of convenience to turn into camaraderie or even friendship.
But, he went on, it is clear that Nehammer is about to join forces with the Left, meaning the “wealth and inheritance tax” are now within reach again, and the policies of a centre-left government will “poison” Austria as a business location.
