Austria: Herbert Kickl fails to form a government

SZ.de Austria: Herbert Kickl fails to form a government Verena Mayer • 10 hours • 3 minutes reading time FPÖ and ÖVP break off talks about a coalition in Austria. The reason is not only major differences in content but also a dispute over the distribution of ministries. Herbert Kickl fails to form a government In Austria, coalition negotiations between the partly right-wing extremist FPÖ and the conservative ÖVP have failed. On Wednesday afternoon, FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl informed Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen that he was resigning from the mandate to form a government. This means that Austria still has no government 136 days after the National Council elections. Negotiations for a three-party coalition between the ÖVP, the Social Democrats and the liberal Neos had already failed at the beginning of January. In a letter to the Federal President, Herbert Kickl explained his reasons for breaking off negotiations. He had tried to "quickly form an efficient federal government according to a tight schedule" and had already agreed with ÖVP chairman Christian Stocker on a budget consolidation plan to avert an impending EU deficit procedure. After that, substantive negotiations were started in 13 subgroups, but these failed due to the allocation of departments. Attempts were made to accommodate the ÖVP "on many points", but to his "regret" these negotiations were not "crowned with success". However, that is probably only part of the truth. In recent weeks, the major substantive differences that separated the FPÖ and ÖVP had become increasingly apparent. European policy, for example. While the conservatives demanded a clear commitment to the EU, the Freedom Party continued to pursue its EU-critical positions and could even imagine not implementing the rulings of the European Court of Justice. As far as security policy is concerned, the FPÖ wanted to reduce all cooperation with NATO, which is essential for the ÖVP. There was apparently even disagreement about Austria's commitment to solidarity with Israel. The situation came to a head when a protocol of the coalition negotiations was made public at the weekend. It listed all the points that had been negotiated, from security policy to culture, media, education, economy, constitution and infrastructure. Red, yellow or green marked what had been agreed or not. It became clear that the color red was also used to mark disagreements on things that should actually be self-evident, such as Austria's commitment to solidarity with Israel or the country's historical responsibility. There was also no agreement on the commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights, which has constitutional status in Austria. The trigger for the failure was the distribution of ministries. On the one hand, Herbert Kickl wanted to move the areas of culture, media and European affairs to the Chancellery, i.e. to himself. On the other hand, he claimed two key departments for the FPÖ, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior. The ÖVP did not want to support either. With the Ministry of Finance, the FPÖ could have enabled or blocked government projects, but the Ministry of the Interior has a very special history in Austria. Kickl had headed it once, from 2017 to 2019 under the then ÖVP Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. At that time, information from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism, which was subordinate to him, is said to have been passed on to Russia, a complex that still occupies the Austrian judiciary today. The result: foreign partner services had temporarily stopped supplying Austria with information that is of central importance in the field of counterterrorism. For the ÖVP, it was therefore unthinkable to leave the Ministry of the Interior to the FPÖ, and ideas to divide the ministry did not lead to an agreement. The breakdown of the negotiations was preceded by turbulent days. ÖVP politicians had accused Herbert Kickl of being “power-mad” and uncompromising and questioned his ability to govern. The FPÖ had accused the ÖVP of only being interested in ministerial posts. The Federal President must now decide what happens next. It is considered likely that there will be new elections sooner or later. The Green Party’s federal spokesman Werner Kogler commented on the failure of the coalition negotiations on the short message platform Bluesky as an “opportunity for Austria”. Now there is once again the possibility of forming a government without right-wing extremists. “We Greens will in any case contribute with the ability to compromise, openness and the will to make Austria better and will do everything we can to form a government without right-wing extremists.