Five months after the September 2024 parliamentary elections and "perhaps the most difficult negotiations on a government in the history of our country," Christian Stocker, leader of Austria's conservative People's Party (ÖVP), was finally able to announce on Thursday, February 27, in Vienna, the finalization of a coalition agreement with the Social Democrats of the SPÖ and the liberals of NEOS. If the agreement is ratified by the various parties by Sunday, March 2, the portly 64-year-old Christian Democrat should be appointed chancellor as soon as Monday.

Presenting the thick 200-page coalition program to parliament, Stocker championed a "spirit of compromise" among "constructive forces," as this country of nine million inhabitants painfully brought forth the first three-party coalition in its history. Although the leaders of the three parties have denied it, the main goal of their coalition is to prevent the far-right from coming to power and the Alpine country from falling into the camp of "international reactionary."

The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), led by the radical Herbert Kickl, came in first in the September 2024 parliamentary elections with almost 29% of the vote, but will now find itself in the opposition. Kickl had tried in early January to form a coalition with the conservatives, who came second with 26% of the vote. But after just six weeks of talks, the ÖVP ultimately refused to join forces with a party that wanted to build a "fortress Austria" against immigrants and oppose European sanctions against Russia.

You have 64.46% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.