Austria will get an interim chancellor before the possible arrival of the far right

Austrian Foreign Minister Schallenberg will become the country's interim chancellor until the next government takes office. This was reported by Politico, according to UNN.

Details

Schallenberg from the center-right Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) will take over as chancellor on Friday after Karl Nehammer resigned due to the failure of coalition talks between Vienna's main parties. According to Politico, new talks, led by the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), are expected to begin in the coming days.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen will “entrust” Schallenberg with the post of prime minister, the presidential office told APA.

Schallenberg will also be the chancellor's foreign minister until the next government takes office.

The mainstream parties initially treated the FPÖ, which won the most seats in last September's elections, with a lukewarm attitude. But after talks between the main parties broke down last week, Van der Bellen on Monday tasked far-right leader Herbert Kickl with forming a new government.

If Kieckl, who is expected to get closer to the Kremlin and pursue tough policies in areas such as migration, successfully forms a government, he will become Austria's new chancellor and the country's first far-right leader since the end of World War II.

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