Austria’s new government takes office after five-month wait
The three-party coalition came together after the far-right Freedom Party emerged as the strongest political force in a parliamentary election.
Austria’s new government has taken office with Christian Stocker sitting as chancellor at the head of an untried three-party coalition after a five-month wait for a new administration.
The new government will have to deal with rising unemployment, a recession and a creaking budget.
The coalition agreement, reached on Thursday after the longest negotiations in post-war Austria, foresees strict new asylum rules in the European Union country of nine million people.
“I stand in front of you today with great respect for the tasks that await, and I am very well aware of the great responsibility that comes with these tasks,” Mr Stocker said at a handover ceremony.
“I aspire to be a chancellor for everyone.”
This is the country’s first three-party government, bringing together Mr Stocker’s conservative Austrian People’s Party, the centre-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos.
The alliance in the political centre came together at the second attempt after the far-right Freedom Party emerged as the strongest political force in a parliamentary election on September 29.
A first attempt collapsed in early January, prompting the resignation of then-chancellor Karl Nehammer, who had said his party would not work under Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl.
Mr Stocker took over from Mr Nehammer as leader of the People’s Party and went into negotiations with Mr Kickl on a possible coalition, but those collapsed on February 12 amid mutual finger-pointing.
The three parties in the centre renewed their effort to find common ground, heading off the possibility of an early election.
On Sunday, the coalition deal received strong backing from members of Neos, which is entering a federal government for the first time — the final step before the government could take office.
“One could say ‘good things come to those who wait’ — that, in any case, is my hope in view of the many days it took to form this government,” President Alexander Van der Bellen said as he swore in the new government.
“This process certainly took a long time; whether it will turn out well now isn’t yet decided, but we are positive and optimistic,” he added. “That is down to us all.”
Mr Stocker, 64, becomes chancellor although he was not running for the job when Austrians voted in September and has not served in a national government before.
Social Democratic leader Andreas Babler is the new vice chancellor.
Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger takes over as foreign minister from Alexander Schallenberg, who had also served as interim chancellor for the past two months after Mr Nehammer’s resignation. Mr Schallenberg is not in the new Cabinet.
He says he is leaving politics, at least for now. He told Mr Stocker it would have been hard to imagine such a friendly handover when he took over temporarily in January, at a time when a Kickl-led government with a more sceptical attitude towards the EU looked likely
“We have a strong, pro-European government with you at the helm that understands clearly that pulling up bridges and closing hatches isn’t a policy that makes sense for our country,” he said.
Some conservative ministers from the old government kept their jobs, notably interior minister Gerhard Karner and defence minister Klaudia Tanner, but the important Finance Ministry went from the People’s Party to the Social Democrats, with Markus Marterbauer taking the job.
