ÖVP Begins Coalition Negotiations with FPÖ
Negotiations on the budget are set to start on Friday. The ÖVP has agreed that, against the backdrop of the existing billion-dollar budget gap, an EU deficit procedure should be averted for Austria, according to an FPÖ announcement.
FPÖ Reports Agreement
"In this first round, agreement was reached that the budgetary framework conditions and course settings must be clarified in a first joint step," said FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl: "It would be illogical and inefficient to negotiate political details in terms of content without having clear budgetary guidelines as a foundation." They want to avert an EU deficit procedure. Such a procedure would "politically and significantly complicate" the already necessary economic reconstruction work for Austria, the Freedom Party explained.
Therefore, a budget negotiation group with representatives from both parties has been set up immediately. This group meets continuously in order to clarify this basic question by the beginning of next week, according to the Freedom Party, which emerged as the party with the most votes in the National Council election for the first time on September 29, 2024.
According to Kickl, it is important to note that "joint negotiations must stand on a firm and solid budgetary foundation from the very beginning. The population needs to know where they stand. Austrians have a right to predictability, reliability, and clarity. This is our approach to this project from day one. We want to govern Austria honestly."
ÖVP Named "Key Cornerstones"
Statements also came from the managing ÖVP chairman Christian Stocker, who had succeeded Karl Nehammer after the failure of coalition talks with SPÖ and NEOS and until then had been a clear opponent of a coalition with the Kickl-FPÖ. "For us, the most important cornerstones are Austria's sovereignty against influences from abroad, especially Russia, Austria as a reliable partner in the EU, and our western liberal, constitutional democracy," he explained.
Teams for Coalition Negotiations
The negotiating teams are larger than initially expected. The ÖVP's team consists of Stocker, club chairman August Wöginger, Secretary General Alexander Pröll, Chamber of Commerce President (and Economic Association Chairman) Harald Mahrer, the previous State Secretary and Young ÖVP Chairwoman Claudia Plakolm, and Farmers' Association President Georg Strasser.
On the FPÖ side, the team that was already appointed to the party presidency on October 2 and was last confirmed is negotiating: It is led by Kickl, other members are the two secretaries general Michael Schnedlitz and Christian Hafenecker, club director Norbert Nemeth, foreign policy and neutrality spokeswoman Susanne Fürst, Arnold Schiefer as an economic expert, and FPÖ Lower Austria club chairman Reinhard Teufel.
Köhlmeier: Possible Chancellor Kickl "Political Disaster"
The local writers' associations and the "Value of Democracy" platform expressed criticism of the government negotiations and questioned the credibility of both parties. This situation only plays into the hands of those "who are interested in a permanent elimination of democratic processes and institutions beyond the already existing disruption of democratic politics and conditions". Writer Michael Köhlmeier described a possible Chancellor Kickl as a "political disaster" to the "Vorarlberger Nachrichten". He represents the moral decay of politics like no other in his person. The ÖVP is practicing an "absolute self-abandonment in every respect". He sees Austria's political future as "very bleak at the moment".
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.