Political explosion in Austria - coalition talks with ÖVP failed - now FPÖ calls for quick new elections

Political explosion in Austria - coalition talks with ÖVP failed - now FPÖ calls for quick new elections FOCUS Online • 11 hours • 2 minutes reading time The alliance talks between the right-wing FPÖ and the conservative ÖVP in Austria have failed. The right-wing populists have failed to form a coalition government. Now they want to ask the voters again. The polls are in favor of the FPÖ. In Austria, the coalition negotiations between the right-wing FPÖ and the conservative ÖVP have failed. FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl informed Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen that the talks had been broken off and withdrew the mandate to form a government, as his party announced. If an agreement was reached, Kickl would be the first chancellor from the ranks of the right-wing populists to enter the Chancellery. FPÖ calls for quick new elections in Austria After the coalition negotiations between the right-wing FPÖ and the conservative ÖVP in Austria failed, the FPÖ now believes it is up to the voters again. "The only honest solution now is to hold new elections quickly," demanded Christian Hafenecker, the general secretary of the right-wing populists. The population should either vote for a government that stands for the FPÖ's "clear values" or for a "chaotic losing alliance" of all the other parties in parliament. According to current polls, the FPÖ could win again in new elections and get around 34 percent of the vote - that would be an even better result than in the election in September, when it got just under 29 percent. Hafenecker blamed the ÖVP for the collapse of the government talks. The conservatives were only concerned with questions of power and ministerial posts, but not with content. ÖVP leader Christian Stocker had previously blamed FPÖ leader Kickl for the end of the negotiations. Why the talks failed Although the FPÖ had accommodated the ÖVP on many points, "to our regret, the negotiations were ultimately not crowned with success," said Kickl in a letter to the head of state. However, the parties have made little progress on fundamental issues and the tone in the public statements of both sides has recently become harsher. After the coalition talks failed, new elections are a possible option. However, the social democratic SPÖ and the liberal Neos had recently campaigned heavily for a second attempt at three-party coalition talks with the ÖVP after negotiations between these centrist parties failed in January. As an alternative to new elections, the appointment of an expert or transitional government by Federal President Van der Bellen would also be conceivable. Dispute over the Interior Ministry - Kickl wanted to go to the Chancellery Both parties previously claimed the Interior Ministry for themselves. Most recently, the ÖVP proposed outsourcing the issues of migration and asylum to a separate FPÖ-led ministry. But the right-wing rejected this. Kickl argued on social media that his party's "core competencies" in the Interior Ministry were in the areas of security and asylum. In return, the right-wing populists had offered the ÖVP important agendas such as foreign policy, economy, infrastructure and defense. FPÖ leader Kickl is aiming for the chancellor's office after his party's election victory in the fall. In the previous coalition with the ÖVP, he led the Interior Ministry from 2017 to 2019. During this time, a police raid on the Office for the Protection of the Constitution took place. Friendly foreign secret services then downgraded their cooperation with Austria. In the FPÖ's latest proposal, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the Interior Ministry would be subordinate to an ÖVP state secretariat.