Difficult formation of a government: Austria’s Chancellor withdraws – what happens next?

After the failure of government negotiations in Austria and the announced resignation of Chancellor Karl Nehammer, his conservative ÖVP is looking for a new party leader. The ÖVP said that talks between the top party officials would take place in the Chancellery on Sunday morning.

The right-wing FPÖ won the parliamentary elections in September. Nehammer wanted to forge a coalition with the social democratic SPÖ and the liberal Neos and thus keep the right-wing populists away from power. The negotiations began in mid-November. Now the project has failed. On Friday, the Neos withdrew from the traffic light negotiations. On Saturday, Nehammer also ended the talks between the ÖVP and SPÖ. The project of a centrist government failed due to different ideas about how Austria’s sluggish economy should be stimulated and at the same time plug the hole in the national budget.

Until recently, Nehammer had rejected a coalition with the FPÖ under its leader Herbert Kickl. The economic wing of the ÖVP, however, prefers to work with the right rather than the Social Democrats.

Now the ÖVP could change course and put someone at the top of the party who can negotiate and govern with the FPÖ. In this constellation, the ÖVP would only be the junior partner, because Kickl, as the election winner, is claiming the chancellorship.

The second scenario is new elections. Because of the long lead time, this could take place in around three months. Pollsters expect that the FPÖ would win even more clearly in the election than in the fall.

Rumors about Sebastian Kurz’s comeback

In recent days, Austrian media have brought ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz into play as a possible new ÖVP leader, citing conservative circles. The once very popular Kurz withdrew from politics in 2021 in the wake of corruption investigations against him. The investigation into the allegations, which Kurz denies, is still ongoing.

Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, the general secretary of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, is also considered a possible Nehammer successor. So far he is little known to the public – except in his homeland of Upper Austria, where he was a member of the state government for several years.

EU Minister Karoline Edtstadler is also being discussed in the media as a possible ÖVP leader. However, she announced in November that she was not seeking a position in the new government and wanted to withdraw from top politics.