Austrian chancellor quits as coalition talks collapse

Talks between Austria's two main centrist parties on forming a coalition government without the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) collapsed on Saturday, prompting conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer to announce he would step down.

A day earlier a third party, the liberal Neos, walked away from the talks, blaming the other parties for failing to take the bold and decisive action it said it had called for.

"I will stand down as chancellor and as leader of the People's Party in the coming days and enable an orderly transition," Nehammer said in a video statement on X, after talks with the Social Democrats (SPO).

The coalition talks' collapse three months after September's parliamentary election underscores the growing difficulty of forming stable governments in European countries, such as Germany and France, where the far right is on the rise but many parties are loath to partner with them.

The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO won that election with roughly 29% of the vote. It would have needed a coalition partner to govern but Nehammer ruled out governing with FPO leader Herbert Kickl, meaning no potential coalition partner for the FPO was forthcoming.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of the Greens, therefore tasked Nehammer with forming a government. Now that Nehammer is stepping down, the two most likely options are either that Kickl is tasked with forming a government or a snap election is called.

Nehammer has described Kickl is too much of a conspiracy theorist to lead a government yet has said much of the FPO is trustworthy.

Kickl, however, is not an outlier within his party, which overlaps with Nehammer's party on issues such as immigration.

The leadership of Nehammer's People's Party (OVP) was due