Austria in the political crisis: Nehammer threatens!

After the surprising exit of the NEOS from the coalition negotiations, the political landscape of Austria faces an uncertain future. Karl Nehammer, the head of the ÖVP and Federal Chancellor, said it was regrettable about the withdrawal of the NEOS and emphasized in a video that his party was ready to take responsibility, but "not at all costs". A party executive of the ÖVP met on Friday as a result of the withdrawal, whereby Nehammer was verbally strengthened, although there is growing skepticism in the economic wing of the party towards a possible coalition with the SPÖ. Rumors about a possible change of management were circulating, with ex-party leader Sebastian Kurz and Chamber of Commerce, Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer being acted as a potential successor, as krone.at reported.

failure of the triple coalition

The negotiations between the ÖVP, the SPÖ and the NEOS, which lasted almost three months, ended prematurely. The Neos party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger announced the withdrawal of her party and accused the ÖVP and the SPÖ that not progress in the required reforms in the areas of training and retirement age. According to the NEOS, retirement age in Austria is to be increased to 67 years, which is not acceptable for the SPÖ, which is strongly dependent on the voter base of the seniors. This argument about the pension compromise was the largest point of dispute in the negotiations, reported the Augsburg general . Despite further discussions and some positive approaches, the result remained inadequate, and the Neos Shranken to take responsibility for failure, since they did not see the desired reform progress in the negotiations.

The question of how things will continue in Austrian politics remains unrorned. A scenario could represent a minority government from the ÖVP and SPÖ, supported by the NEOs, while the FPÖ, which is attributable for surveys, is silent and is waiting for possible new political constellations. Nehammer is now confronted with impaired options for action and discussions about a return from Sebastian Kurz to the party leadership focus on the attention of possible changes in the ÖVP. Austria has maneuvered itself in a political crisis, the solution of which will be decisive in the coming weeks.