Far-right leader pledges to 'govern Austria honestly' and makes demands of potential partner
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Austrian far-right leader Herbert Kickl said Tuesday in his first comments after being tasked to form a new government that he aspires to “govern Austria honestly” as he prepared for talks on a potential coalition with conservatives who criticized him sharply in the past.
Kickl said he's prepared for new elections if they fail. His Russia-friendly, anti-immigration, euroskeptic Freedom Party won Austria's parliamentary election in September but was initially shunned by other parties. Their efforts to put together a coalition without it failed.
On Monday, Kickl received a mandate to try to form what would be the first national government led by the far right since World War II. That came after the conservative Austrian People’s Party of outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who announced his resignation Saturday, made an abrupt U-turn on its previous refusal to contemplate working with the Freedom Party under Kickl.
Kickl — a 56-year-old with a provocative style — made clear he hasn't forgotten past friction with the People's Party. Nehammer has described him as a “security risk.” The party's interim leader, Christian Stocker, said during the election campaign that anyone voting for Kickl “is voting for five years of high risk with radical ideas.”.
“Our country was driven into the wall in the past five years,” Kickl said, pointing in particular to Austria's large budget deficit and what he said was “a massive trust deficit” accumulated by mainstream parties. He said he has “a very, very simple aim, and that is to govern Austria honestly.”.
