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.
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