Party Leaders Discuss Path to New Government with Van der Bellen

Following the collapse of the blue-black coalition negotiations, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will hold talks with the party leaders on Thursday regarding government formation. The series of meetings at the Hofburg will begin with NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger at 11:00 AM, followed by Green Party leader Werner Kogler at 12:15 PM. ÖVP leader Christian Stocker is scheduled for 2:30 PM, and his SPÖ counterpart Andreas Babler at 4:15 PM.

Coalition Collapsed: Van der Bellen Invites Party Leaders

According to the FPÖ, blue party leader Herbert Kickl does not yet have an appointment, as he only returned the mandate to form a government to Van der Bellen on Wednesday. However, he emphasized on Wednesday evening that he would certainly accept such an invitation at the president's request.

The Federal President had announced that he would meet with the party leaders in the coming days. In a statement on Wednesday, he mentioned four options following the failure of the blue-black coalition: a new election, a minority government tolerated by parliament, a government of experts, or a coalition of several parties. Besides blue-black, ÖVP and SPÖ would also have a (just one vote secured) majority in the National Council. Therefore, both NEOS and the Greens could provide the necessary stability with their votes.

Parties Also Discuss Internally

However, the parties also want to discuss the future internally - while the ÖVP had already convened a federal party board on Wednesday, the Social Democrats will meet on Thursday in parliament for a presidium meeting.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.