Published on 01/05/2025 at 4:54 p.m.
VIENNA (Reuters) – The leadership of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) has appointed its general secretary, Christian Stocker, to succeed Chancellor Karl Nehammer at the head of the party after the latter resigned following the failure of negotiations for coalition, the Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported on Sunday.
According to the tabloid, Christian Stocker, who is 64 years old, will also assume the role of interim head of government.
Following the failure of negotiations aimed at forming a coalition government without the participation of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), President Alexander Van der Bellen announced that he would meet the leader of the FPÖ on Monday , Herbert Kickl.
“The voices within the People’s Party ruling out any cooperation with an FPÖ led by Herbert Kickl are much less heard. This means that a new path could open up, which did not exist before,” he said in a speech to the nation.
Talks between the People’s Party and the SPO Social Democrats failed, leading Chancellor Karl Nehammer to announce his resignation.
The FPÖ, a eurosceptic party close to Russia, came first in the last legislative elections in September with 29% of the vote.
(Reporting by François Murphy; French version Elizabeth Pineau and Gilles Guillaume)
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