Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has announced that he will resign.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced that he will resign Vladislav Kravtsov

On January 4, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced that he would soon resign. The reason for this was the unsuccessful attempts to form a coalition in the government.

This was reported by 24 Kanal with reference to the Austrian Chancellor's message on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as on Euronews.

What Nehammer said about his resignation

Karl Nehammer said that his Austrian People's Party and the Social Democrats were unable to agree on key issues in forming the country's next government. Therefore, he will resign in the coming days.

We have tried for a long time and honestly to reach an agreement. Now it is impossible to reach an agreement with the Social Democratic Party of Austria on essential issues. The People's Party is keeping its promises: we will not agree to measures that are anti-effective or anti-business, or new taxes. Therefore, we are ending the negotiations with the Social Democrats and will not continue them, the Austrian chancellor said.

It is worth noting that the NEOS party, together with the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) of Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the center-left Social Democrats, tried to form a three-party governing coalition after the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria won the national elections in September.

However, NEOS subsequently withdrew from the negotiations, so only the People's Party and the Social Democrats were left to discuss.

Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger said progress was impossible and that “fundamental reforms” had not been agreed. She told other party leaders that Neos members “would not continue” the talks.

The talks dragged on after all other parties refused to cooperate with Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl, who came in first in the election with 29.2% of the vote. The party advocates a tougher immigration policy and cuts in European aid to Ukraine.

With Nehammer out, the next step is new elections. Austria's right-wing Freedom Party has welcomed the possibility, with opinion polls showing their support has only grown since the election. According to a poll commissioned by Der Standard, the right-wing party increased its support to 35% of the vote in December.

Austrian Chancellor Resigns as Party Leader

In addition to resigning as Federal Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer has decided to step down as leader of the Austrian People's Party. Now they must elect a new chairman, who could potentially form a coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria.

One of the likely candidates for this position, according to Kurier journalists, is former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Also under consideration for the post are: Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Wolfgang Gattmannsdorfer, as well as Constitution Minister Caroline Edtstadler.

According to the publication, Deputy Governor of Lower Austria Stefan Pernkopf and Chairman of the party's Lower Austria branch Jochen Danninger are being considered as vice chancellors if the Austrian People's Party wins the elections.