Coalition crisis in Austria: Kickl returns government mandate!

Coalition crisis in Austria: Kickl returns government mandate!

Laimgrubengasse 10, 1060 Wien, Österreich - Today, on February 12, 2025, the FPÖ federal party chairman Herbert Kickl informed the Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen that the coalition negotiations with the ÖVP failed. As a result, Kickl covered the government formation. In his written statement, Kickl explained that the talks with the ÖVP, which started on January 6, 2025, initially seemed promising, since a clear strategy for avert an impending EU deficit procedure was developed. Nevertheless, controversial points could not be clarified because the ÖVP insisted on clarification of the distribution of department. Although the FPÖ made concessions, the negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful. Kickl also points out that negotiations with the SPÖ are not considered to be expedient, since there are fundamental differences and a collaboration is fundamentally rejected by the SPÖ. He expressly made this clear in his letter to the Federal President, as ots.at reported.

Federal President Van der Bellen also commented on the unsuccessful coalition negotiations. He emphasized that a coalition needs a majority in the National Council to be able to act. However, such a majority was not given after the elections on September 29, 2024. Van der Bellen emphasized that neither the SPÖ nor the ÖVP are ready to cooperate with the FPÖ under Kickl. This fact meant that the ÖVP and SPÖ recently held conversations and considered a possible coalition. But here, too, there were setbacks, such as the NEOS, which also got out of the negotiations. The Federal President signaled that the ÖVP and SPÖ must continue to work on a government and that quick progress is necessary, which underlines the urgency of the situation. Further information about this state of things can be found on