VIENNA: Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen tasked the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) on Monday with forming a coalition government after a centrist bid to assemble one without the FPO collapsed unexpectedly over the weekend. The announcement marks a dramatic reversal for the president, a former leader of the left-wing Greens who has long been critical of the FPO and has clashed with its leader Herbert Kickl, but few options remained to Van der Bellen after the centrists' failure to forge a coalition.
The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO won last September's parliamentary election with 29 per cent of the vote. It will now enter talks with its only potential partner, the conservative People's Party (OVP), seeking to lead a government for the first time since it was founded in the 1950s under a leader who had been a senior officer in Hitler's elite paramilitary SS. "I have... tasked him with launching talks with the People's Party to form a government," Van der Bellen said in a televised address after meeting Kickl. — AFP
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