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Austrian president tasks far-right leader with forming govt

The announcement marks a dramatic reversal for the president who has long been critical of the FPO and has clashed with its leader Herbert Kickl

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% 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, adding: "I did not take this step lightly."

As Kickl left his meeting with the president, hundreds of protesters including Jewish students and left-wing activists booed, whistled, chanted "Nazis out" and waved banners with slogans such as "We don't want a right-wing extremist Austria".

Van der Bellen had infuriated the FPO by not tasking it with forming a government soon after the election since no potential coalition partner was immediately forthcoming. That task fell to the conservative People's Party (OVP) and its leader Chancellor Karl Nehammer. The OVP came second in the election.

Nehammer's attempts to assemble a three- and then two-party coalition with other centrist parties fell apart this weekend, prompting him to announce his resignation.

Nehammer had long insisted his party would not govern with Kickl, saying the FPO leader was a conspiracy theorist and security threat. With Nehammer gone, so is that red line. His interim successor as OVP leader, Christian Stocker, said on Sunday his party would join coalition talks led by Kickl.

"We are at the very beginning. If we are invited to these talks, the outcome of those talks is open," OVP heavyweight Wilfried Haslauer, the governor of Salzburg state who stood next to Stocker at his first statement to the media as designated party leader, told broadcaster ORF.

Should those talks fail, however, a snap election is likely, and opinion polls show FPO support has only grown since September.

The OVP and FPO overlap on various issues, particularly over taking a tough line on immigration.

The thorniest issue in the centrists' talks, however, was how to shrink the budget deficit, which is forecast to exceed the EU's limit of 3% of economic output in 2024 and 2025.

While both parties call for tax cuts, the FPO has pledged to take a knife to some of the OVP's vested interests, such as the powerful Chamber of Commerce. They have also clashed over the FPO's opposition to aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia, and current plans for a missile defence system.

Van der Bellen has repeatedly said he will remain vigilant to ensure "cornerstones of democracy" including human rights, independent media and Austria's membership of the European Union are respected.