Government formation in Austria: These parties want to give it a try after all

Vienna - Will the tough struggle to form a government in Austria soon come to an end? After the collapse of negotiations between the ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos, the three parties now want to give it a try.

Federal President Alexander van der Bellen (81) spoke of real progress on the road to a coalition in the Vienna Hofburg on Saturday. The talks are on the home straight, he said, and there is more willingness to compromise.

The 81-year-old had previously met with the party leaders Christian Stocker (64, ÖVP), Andreas Babler (51, SPÖ) and Beate Meinl-Reisinger (46, Neos).

It would be the first alliance of the three parties at federal level.

At the beginning of January, the Neos initially caused the negotiations to be broken off. At the time, the Liberals criticized the lack of a recognizable will to reform and withdrew. Subsequently, the conservative ÖVP wanted to move closer to the right-wing FPÖ, but this attempt also failed.

Van der Bellen then named four options as to how things could continue. The options were new elections in a few months, a minority government, a government of experts or a coalition after all.