Vienna Austria, (Report: Muhammad Amir Siddique) __ Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) was sworn in as Chancellor by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on Friday. He is entrusting the longest-serving member of the federal government with the office, said Van der Bellen. Until the next government is sworn in, Schallenberg will take over the responsibilities of Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), who resigned after his party’s coalition talks with the SPÖ and NEOS failed.
One of the tasks of the Federal President is to ensure that at all times, at all times, there is a government in office that can lead the country and represent it in the European Union,” said Van der Bellen. He is now fulfilling this task. He thanked Schallenberg and his predecessor Nehammer.
The last few days have been “turbulent,” Van der Bellen said. Nehammer resigned from both the party leadership and the office of head of government over the weekend. Van der Bellen then gave FPÖ party leader Herbert Kickl the task of forming a government.
On Friday, there was also a conversation between Schallenberg and former Chancellor Nehammer. The latter did not appear in public again, but addressed the population in a video distributed online. In it, he said once again that he looks back on the three years of his chancellorship with gratitude and great respect. Every day was an honor to serve the country “and all of you.” What will remain in the future is his “unwavering love” for Austria.
Chancellor for the second time:
Schallenberg is now acting Chancellor for the second time, having already been sworn in eight times in total. He will remain Foreign Minister until a new government is formed. A telephone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is planned for Friday, and he is due to speak to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the weekend. He is planning an inaugural visit to the EU in Brussels at the beginning of next week. Due to his move to the Chancellery, he had to postpone his planned trips to Syria and Turkey as Foreign Minister.
The diplomat stepped in as chancellor from October to December 2021 after the resignation of former chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) following allegations of corruption. Two months later, Nehammer again served as party chairman and head of government until his resignation. For Nehammer, a coalition with the FPÖ under Kickl was out of the question.
Schallenberg: No ministerial post under FPÖ:
On Friday, Schallenberg also again ruled out accepting a ministerial post under Chancellor Kickl. In view of the new developments, his party accepted the invitation to coalition talks with the FPÖ.
The current ÖVP leader, Christian Stocker, stressed that “honest answers” are needed, particularly on issues such as freedom of the press, independence from Russia and European cooperation. What is important to the ÖVP is “Austria’s sovereignty instead of foreign influence, partnership in Europe instead of isolation.” Kickl said that there must be an awareness “of who has won the election and who came second and is not the winner.”
FPÖ-ÖVP talks on the budget
The coalition negotiators of the two parties want to discuss the budget as early as Friday. The ÖVP has agreed that an EU deficit procedure should be averted for Austria in view of the existing budget gap of billions, according to an FPÖ press release on Thursday.
The budget was also the biggest issue in the failed negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS and caused a lot of discontent. This task will not be any less for a possible blue-black coalition. Accordingly, the coalition negotiations are unlikely to be completed so quickly. It is said that they will take at least a month.