Austrian chancellor says coalition talks on track even as sparks fly

By Francois Murphy

Austria's three-way coalition talks are on track to reach a deal around the new year, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday even as he clashed overnight with the centre-left party in those talks.

The far-right Freedom Party (FPO) won September's general election for the first time. With around 29% of the vote, the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO would have needed a coalition partner to secure a majority in parliament and govern.

President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, said since no potential FPO coalition partner was forthcoming, he had to task Nehammer as leader of the second-placed party with forming a government that would not include the FPO.

Asked in an interview with Der Standard if his aim was to have a government sworn in on Jan. 7 like five years ago, Nehammer said it was but he repeated that it was important talks were both as quick as possible and as thorough as necessary.

"We remain on the same track as the turquoise-green coalition talks - neither slower nor faster, even though there are now three of us," he said.

He was referring to the current coalition government comprising his People's Party (OVP) and the Greens, for which a deal was announced on Jan. 1, 2020, three months after an election on Sept. 29, the same election date as this year.

Full-blown coalition talks between the OVP, Social Democrats (SPO) and liberal Neos, with separate negotiating teams for each policy area, began less than 10 days ago.

Nehammer has warned the road will likely be long and "rocky" since the parties must bridge a large ideological divide on issues including taxation, with his party and the Neos having pledged not to raise taxes while the SPO's flagship policy is to tax wealth and inheritance.

He is also under pressure to reach a deal quickly. His party's leader in the state of Styria blamed an election loss to the FPO there last Sunday on voter dissatisfaction with the coalition talks.

On Friday evening, Nehammer posted on social media platform X a report by tabloid Heute that the SPO was making introducing a wealth tax a condition in the talks.

Nehammer said: "There will be no wealth or inheritance taxes with the (OVP) ... Should the SPO insist on that, the talks will end quickly."

A spokesperson for SPO leader Andreas Babler said the SPO would stick to a policy of not expressing red lines through the media.

They added that the article was based on an SPO statement that said: "We therefore demand a contribution from those who have particularly profited (fiscally) in the past and protect those who continue to suffer from inflation."