Far-right Freedom Party won most votes in September elections, but new ruling coalition keeps it in opposition.
Conservative Christian Stocker has been sworn in as Austria’s chancellor at the head of a three-party coalition government, ending five months of political deadlock that followed a far-right party’s election win.
The swearing-in on Monday came days after Stocker said a “common programme” had been agreed by his Austrian People’s Party (OVP), the centre-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos.
The creation of the coalition government came after separate bids by the same three parties and the far-right Freedom Party, which won the most votes in the September 29 parliamentary elections, ended without an agreement.
The new administration faces significant challenges, including rising unemployment, a recession and a strained budget. Its coalition agreement includes plans for stricter asylum rules in the European Union nation of nine million people.
“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 at the swearing-in ceremony at Vienna’s Hofburg Palace, referring to the country’s longest government formation process since World War II.
“This process certainly took a long time. Whether it will turn out well now isn’t yet decided, but we are positive and optimistic. That is down to us all,” he added.
Stocker, 64, assumes the role of chancellor despite not having campaigned for the position during the elections and lacking experience in national government.
Before becoming a lawmaker in 2019, he was deputy mayor in his native Wiener Neustadt, a city near Vienna.
Social Democratic leader Andreas Babler is the vice chancellor while Neos head Beate Meinl-Reisinger takes over as foreign minister, replacing Alexander Schallenberg, who served as interim chancellor after the resignation of former Chancellor Karl Nehammer after the collapse of government formation talks.
Schallenberg is not part of the new cabinet.
Key conservative ministers, such as Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner, retained their positions. However, the Ministry of Finance has shifted from the OVP to the Social Democrats with Markus Marterbauer appointed to lead it.
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