The president of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, has commissioned this Monday the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, the task of form government after collapse last weekend talks previous meetings between conservatives, social democrats and centrists.
In a speech to the nation after a meeting with Kickl, the Austrian president recalled that the Freedom Party was the most voted in the legislative elections of September, and has estimated that, after the meeting held between the two this morning, he has drawn the conclusion that the far-right leader “is confident to find viable solutions “and wants to assume this responsibility.
Failure of the “cordon sanitaire” to the extreme right
The president has declared himself aware of the existence of the “sanitary cord” imposed by the three parties that failed in the coalition negotiations and has warned that it has not “taken the step lightly” of entrusting the FPÖ with the task of forming a government and assured that it “will ensure respect for the rule of law.”
“I’ll make sure the principles and norms of the Constitution are correctly respected“said the Austrian head of state, aware of the social impact of this decision.
In fact, this morning hundreds of protesters have gathered in front of the headquarters of the Presidency, the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, to protest against a possibility that has gained strength this weekend: a coalition of the FPÖ with the conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP), which is not has closed an alliance in which it would be the minority partner.
Kickl was Minister of the Interior and is accused of being a philo-Nazi
Kickl55 years old, was already Minister of the Interior between 2017 and 2019 in a government led by the OVP that was blown up due to the well-known ‘Ibiza case’, a corruption scandal detected when the FPÖ was part of the government coalition of the former chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, also involved in other crimes.
The protest was called in part by the organization of Jewish Students from Austriawhose president, Alon Ishay, has denounced Kickl as a philonazi.
“The fact that someone who calls People’s Chancellor“, a title coined by National Socialism, “can now become Chancellor of Austria brings back very dark memories for us, young Jews and the Jewish community,” he assured the newspaper ‘Die Presse’.
