ÖVP and SPÖ negotiate coalition for Austria alone

The chancellor's party, the ÖVP, had been in talks with the SPÖ and the liberal Neos party about a traffic light coalition since mid-November. However, on Friday, the Neos surprisingly declared their withdrawal because they felt that the others showed too little willingness to reform.

An agreement between the two remaining parties is considered difficult because they have different ideas on how to overcome the economic crisis and restructure the state budget. ÖVP General Secretary Christian Stocker blamed "backward-looking" forces in the SPÖ for the Liberals' withdrawal.

Liberals could support grand coalition in parliament

The ÖVP and SPÖ would only have a wafer-thin majority in parliament. However, Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger has announced that her party could support reform plans of a grand coalition in parliament despite the withdrawal. Chancellor and ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer is under pressure to succeed. After all, his future depends on the success of the coalition negotiations. After the FPÖ's election victory in September, he decided not to govern with the right-wing populists led by Herbert Kickl. The economic wing of the ÖVP, on the other hand, would prefer to form a coalition with the FPÖ rather than the SPÖ. Should there be new elections rather than a grand coalition, the FPÖ could hope for an even clearer victory. According to the latest polls, the right-wing party could increase its result from 29% to around 35%.