Finally, after three months of the Austrian political establishment’s attempts to thwart democracy, leftist President Alexander Van der Bellen has called on the Freedom Party’s Chairman Herbert Kickl to make an attempt to form a government. After the September elections, which the Freedom Party won, Van der Bellen refused to follow political norms and asked Karl Nehammer, leader of the weak-as-water center-right Austrian People’s Party, which came in second place, to attempt to form a government with his organization, the Social Democrats and a small liberal party known as NEOS.
Although the Austrian People’s Party has been in coalition with the Freedom Party in the past, namely, the 1999 and 2017-2019 governments, Nehammer has refused to go into coalition with them, being part of the more left-wing part of his party. Nehammer was humiliated in 2020, while he was Interior Minister, when he got his wife a cushy job in the Ministry of Defense. Kickl noticed this nepotism and called it out. “Wifey” had to be quietly shunted to a private sector job.
In view of the failure to form a government, Nehammer was forced to resign as party chairman for the People’s Party and as Chancellor on January 4th, but he has been kept on in a caretaker role. Van der Bellen hinted in a press release that with Nehammer out of action, the People’s Party might be more open to forming a government.
We still don’t know how this is all going to play out. Hopefully Kickl will go into coalition with the People’s Party and become Prime Minister. However, we all know how devious establishment parties can be. The good news is Kickl is not only the leader of the Freedom Party, but head of its somewhat more militant wing. Be prepared for big doses of euroskepticism and tough immigration measures, as well as a chillier relationship with NATO.
