Table For Three
Austria's People’s Party, Social Democratic Party, and NEOS have agreed to begin formal negotiations over forming a coalition government
Servus!
It’s official. After weeks of exploratory discussions, the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), and liberal NEOS have agreed to begin formal negotiations with a view to forming a coalition government. The parties’ three leaders, Karl Nehammer, Andreas Babler, and Beate Meinl-Reisinger, announced the move at a joint press conference on Monday. Tomorrow, representatives from all three parties will begin working in clusters on the details of the future coalition’s program for government.
Far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Herbert Kickl unsurprisingly criticized the move, arguing that “the same people who got us into this mess and drove the country into the ground” are now “pretending to be its saviors.” It is possible—or so Kickl hopes at least—that this announcement may benefit the FPÖ in the short term and boost their chances of winning state elections in Styria on Sunday. Kickl himself, mind you, also finds himself in a bit of a pinch at the moment, with Profil reporting that state prosecutors want to investigate the FPÖ leader on possible perjury charges.
The SPÖ would have preferred the Greens be the third wheel in their ménage à trois with the ÖVP due to the ideological closeness between the two parties on social issues. Yet such an arrangement was very unlikely to happen due to the river of distrust that runs between the ÖVP and the Greens after five years in government together. The Greens are now readily preparing for life in opposition, with party leader Werner Kogler planning a peaceful and orderly transition of power to his successor at some point during the life of this parliament. Although the party itself may prefer energy minister Leonore Gewessler, justice minister Alma Zadić may turn out to be the smarter pick.
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When representatives of the ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS begin meeting next week in Palais Epstein on the Ringstrasse to iron out future government policy, the main topic areas will be:
Infrastructure and the economy,
Housing and the fight against inflation,
Security, migration, and integration,
Healthcare, social care, work, and benefits,
Women, the state, society, foreign policy, and Europe,
Regionalism, transport, the climate, and agriculture, and
Education, innovation, and the future.
At some point, the parties will also have to divide up the various cabinet portfolios and decide whom to appoint as government ministers. The latter is often a delicate matter for the ÖVP and SPÖ, with regional parties and special interest groups all seeking representation in the cabinet.
That these negotiations are going to be conducted among three parties instead of the usual two means that they are likely to go on for several weeks, and it is entirely foreseeable that Austria will not have a new government this side of Christmas. There is, however, an incentive on the part of all three parties to get this thing over the finish line: for the ÖVP, the chance to retain the chancellorship; the SPÖ, a chance to return to government after seven years in opposition; the NEOS, a chance to enter government for the first time and implement their liberal vision for the economy and education.
The problem will not be a lack of will necessarily. Rather, for this coalition to work, these three parties will have to find a way to massage major policy differences both while formulating the coalition agreement and in practice while governing together. Not only will they have to agree on a common agenda, but these three parties are, in a sense, going to have to give each other a certain amount of leeway to implement key polices and reforms so that each party and its voters feel like they are getting something out of this novel arrangement that, by definition, is going to require compromises and beget hurt feelings. Otherwise, the danger exists that one dissatisfied party might go rogue and undermine the coalition from the inside.
Bis bald!
Austria’s Gas Cut
Russia’s state-owned energy behemoth Gazprom has halted shipments of natural gas to Austria’s OMV following a contractual dispute that saw the latter halt payments to the former. Austrian authorities sought to reassure consumers that the country has enough gas in reserve and from other sources to meet its energy needs.
New Finance Minister
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VdB Is Back
President Alexander Van der Bellen has returned to work following a successful disk operation and a short stay in hospital. The 80-year-old’s first official duty was the swearing-in of new finance minister Mayr, which took place earlier today.