The leader of the Austrian nationalist party is rumored to be in talks to form a government

Austria’s President, Alexander Van der Bellen, on Sunday announced that he will meet with right-wing politician Herbert Kickl, as speculation grows that he will ask the leader of the Freedom Party to form a government.

Van der Bellen made the announcement after meeting Chancellor Karl Nehammer and others at his presidential palace. Nehammer announced his intention to resign after coalition talks between his Austrian People’s Party and the centre-left Social Democrats broke down over the budget.

Nehammer has ruled out working with Kickl, but others on his team aren’t so keen. Earlier on Sunday, the People’s Party nominated its General Secretary, Christian Stocker, as interim leader, but the president said Nehammer will remain chancellor for the time being.

Van der Bellen said that he had spent several hours talking to important officials, after which he got the impression that “the words of the People’s Party that do not include cooperation with the Freedom Party under its leader Herbert Kickl are getting quieter.”

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The president said that this development “may open a new path,” which led him to invite Kickl to a meeting that will be held on Monday morning.

Kickl’s Freedom Party won the autumn general election with 29.2% of the vote, but Van der Bellen gave Nehammer the task of putting together a new government because no other party was willing to work with Kickl.

That decision earned the Freedom Party and its supporters a lot of criticism, as Kickl said in October that it was “unfair and unreasonable” that he had not received the mandate to form a government.

“We are not responsible for the waste of time, the messy situation and the breach of trust that has arisen,” said Kickl on Sunday afternoon on social media. “On the contrary: It is clear that the Freedom Party has been and continues to be the most stable element in Austrian politics.”

Speaking to reporters on Sunday afternoon, Stocker confirmed that he was “unanimously” elected by his party to be interim leader. “I am very honored and happy,” he said.

He also accepted the president’s decision to meet with Kickl and said that he now expects that the leader of the party that won the last election will be assigned to form the government.

“If we are invited to the talks to establish a government, we will accept this invitation,” added Stocker.

In the past, Stocker has criticized Kickl, calling him a “security risk” to the country.

In its election manifesto entitled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party calls for “immigration of uninvited foreigners,” in order to achieve a “homogeneous” nation by strictly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum through an emergency law.

The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, strongly criticizes Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to withdraw from the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. The Freedom Party also signed a friendship pact in 2016 with Putin’s United Russia Party that it now says has expired.

Kickl criticized the “honors” in Brussels and called for some powers to be returned from the European Union to Austria.

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Austria was plunged into political turmoil on Friday after the ruling Neos party pulled out of coalition talks with the People’s Party and the Social Democrats. On Saturday, the two remaining parties, with only one seat in Parliament, made another attempt to form a government – but that failed after a few hours, with negotiators saying they could not agree on a government reform. budget deficit.