Coalition talks

Blue-Black want to take a smaller and tighter approach

The FPÖ and ÖVP will step on the gas more than the three-party negotiators.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/ROLAND SCHLAGER / APA / picturedesk.com)

The FPÖ and ÖVP are feverishly preparing for the coalition negotiations. These are likely to be a kind of counter-program to the three-way coalition talks between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS. While the "Zuckerl" was negotiated in 33 groups of over 300 people for almost two and a half months, FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl wants to take a smaller and tighter approach.

According to reports, the first substantive negotiations are planned for Friday, when the steering groups of both parties could meet.

One thing is certain: the Freedom Party's negotiating team is the same one that was nominated shortly after the election. In addition to the party leader, it consists of the General Secretaries Michael Schnedlitz and Christian Hafenecker, Club Director Norbert Nemeth, the MPs Susanne Fürst and Arnold Schiefer as well as the Lower Austrian Club Chairman Reinhard Teufel.

General Secretaries Schnedlitz (l.) and Hafenecker (r.) are part of the core team.

(Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer)

ÖVP has not yet nominated a team
The ÖVP has not yet nominated a team, but it will create one on a similar scale to the FPÖ. Of course, this is only the core team; in the end, there will also be groups and sub-groups in the blue-black coalition, and other experts will also be involved.

After three months of idling, the FPÖ and ÖVP are now clearly under pressure to make progress. If the first talks between Kickl and the designated ÖVP leader Christian Stocker on Wednesday evening have borne fruit and coalition talks actually begin, things will "move quickly", according to party headquarters.

FPÖ leader wanted to be finished with the ÖVP in a month after the election
Kickl had already presented a roadmap for government negotiations to the ÖVP two weeks after the election. This comprised six thematic blocks, from the economy to asylum to health, and was scheduled for three and a half weeks. It remains to be seen whether the FPÖ and ÖVP will be able to reach an agreement so quickly.

Protests against blue-black government negotiations
While the FPÖ and ÖVP are preparing for the start of possible negotiations, opponents of the Freedom Party's participation in government are taking to the streets. Under the slogan "Alarm for the Republic", a demonstration and a human chain is planned in front of the Federal Chancellery on Thursday evening. Protests have also been announced in other provincial capitals such as Graz and Salzburg.

The protest event in Vienna, organized by Volkshilfe, Greenpeace and SOS Mitmensch, is supported by numerous NGOs. The demonstration could be the starting signal for a new edition of the Thursday demonstrations. After the inauguration of the first black-blue coalition in February 2000, more than 150,000 people gathered at Heldenplatz in Vienna to protest against the new ÖVP-FPÖ government and its feared "racism and social cuts". In the following two years, weekly rallies were held with thousands of demonstrators.