The incoming leader of Austria’s centre right People’s party (ÖVP) has signalled his openness to sharing power with the far right, just a day after Chancellor Karl Nehammer resigned after failing to form a centrist governing coalition.
Christian Stocker, the ÖVP’s general secretary, said on Sunday that he had been nominated as the party’s new head and was willing to enter negotiations with the anti-immigration, pro-Russian Freedom party (FPÖ), which emerged with the most seats in Austria’s national election in September.
Stocker’s statement came after Austria’s president Alexander Van der Bellen announced that he would meet FPÖ’s leader Herbert Kickl on Monday. Observers expect Van der Bellen to ask Kickl to form a coalition government, with centrist parties having previously ruled out such an alliance.