Austria’s Freedom Party ended coalition talks with the conservatives to form the country’s first far right-led government following disagreements over key posts and issues including migration.
The FPOe, which topped national polls for the first time ever in September, has been negotiating with the long-ruling conservative People’s Party, OeVP, since early January.
Cracks therefore appeared since last week, with radical FPOe leader Herbert Kickl insisting his party wants to hold both the interior and finance ministries, demands the OeVP has rejected.
Kickl told reporters that despite intensive efforts, it had not been possible to reach an agreement, adding that he was in favour of early snap elections.
If they been successful, the far right would have led the Alpine EU nation’s government for the first time, though it has previously tasted power as a junior coalition partner.
Now that talks have collapsed, analysts say snap elections are one of several likely scenarios, with the FPOe polling well ahead of its rivals, as Austria’s President Alexander Bellen noting that he would be holding talks with the parties in the coming days, in order to figure how to move forward. Meanwhile, conservative-led efforts to rule without the FPOe following the September vote failed in early January and efforts to form a government hit a record length of time last week.
