VIENNA – Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer mentioned Saturday that he’ll resign within the subsequent few days after talks on forming a brand new authorities collapsed for the second time.
The announcement got here after the People’s Party and the Social Democrats continued talks on a coalition, a day after the shock withdrawal of the liberal Neos occasion from the discussions.
“Unfortunately I’ve to inform you at present that the negotiations are over and won’t be continued by the SVP,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the conservative People’s Party mentioned in a press release on social media.
He mentioned that the “damaging forces” of the Social Democratic Party “have taken over” and that the People’s Party is not going to endorse a program that’s opposite to financial competitiveness.
Social Democrat chief Andreas Babler regretted the SVP’s resolution to finish the negotiations. “This is just not an excellent resolution for our nation,” he mentioned.
Babler mentioned one of many essential hurdles has to do with the right way to restore the “document deficit” left by the earlier authorities.
“I provided Karl Nehammer and the UDC to proceed the negotiations and requested them to not arise,” he advised reporters on Saturday night.
According to the European Commission, the subsequent Austrian authorities must save between 18 and 24 billion euros. Furthermore, Austria has been in recession for the previous two years, is experiencing rising unemployment and its finances deficit is at the moment at 3.7% of gross home product, above the EU restrict of three%.
The talks had dragged on because the Austrian president tasked the conservative chancellor with forming a brand new authorities in October. The request got here in spite of everything different events refused to cooperate with the chief of the far-right Freedom Party, which received nationwide elections for the primary time in September with 29.2% of the vote.
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