Country Reports

Austria's political centre under pressure

The coalition of the last chance

After the longest government formation in the history of the Second Republic, Austria now has a new federal government. The process, which lasted more than five months, was characterized by two major ruptures: First, the negotiations for the so-called Zuckerl coalition of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), Social Democrats (SPÖ) and liberal NEOS failed. This led to the resignation of ÖVP leader and Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer at the beginning of 2025. The subsequent coalition negotiations with the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) led by its future chancellor Herbert Kickl were therefore led by the previous Secretary General and interim party chairman of the ÖVP, Christian Stocker. These negotiations also failed, so that the party returned to the beginning and - this time doomed to success, so to speak - managed to form a coalition between the ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS after all. The more than 200-page program of the government led by Christian Stocker as Federal Chancellor is entitled “Doing the right thing now. For Austria”. It could be the last chance for the political center to prevent FPÖ chairman Kickl from becoming the next Chancellor.

After the national elections, Austria faces a long and difficult process of forming a government

Decision on direction postponed

What had been predicted in all opinion polls since 2023 has now become reality in figures: The right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has emerged victorious from the election on September 29 with 28.8%, making it the strongest force in a National Council election for the first time ever in its approximately seventy-year history. While the FPÖ was still relatively close to first place in the European elections in June – for the first time in a nationwide election – this time it was two and a half percent behind the ruling Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), which lost around eleven percentage points of votes with a result of 26.3 percent.

In Search of the Least Evil

The ÖVP between the European and National Council Elections

Around 6.4 million Austrians are among the 3.6 billion people worldwide who will be able to vote in the super election year of 2024, most of whom will be going to the ballot box several times – or have already done so. The focus of attention will be on the National Council election on September 29, which follows the recent European elections by a considerable margin. There are also state elections in Vorarlberg and Styria. Since June 9, the motto "after the election is before the election" has applied to federal politics, as for most of the Austrian parties, the European elections were merely a "preliminary skirmish", conducted with little enthusiasm, for the much more decisive election in the fall from an Austrian perspective. Nevertheless, the results of the European elections, which were surprising in many respects, could well have set the course for the National Council elections in the fall.

Die OSZE in Geiselhaft des russischen Angriffskrieges

Am 1. und 2. Dezember 2022 findet die Ministerratssitzung der OSZE, in der Polen in die-sem Jahr den Vorsitz innehat, in Łódź unter außergewöhnlichen Umständen statt - und ohne den russischen Außenminister.

Stimmungstest in Österreich

Wahlen in einer angespannten Zeit

In Tirol wird am 25. September 2022 vorzeitig ein neuer Landtag gewählt, am 9. Oktober findet in Österreich die Bundespräsidentenwahl statt. Beide Ereignisse werden zeigen, wie die politische Stimmung im Land ist. Geprägt ist diese durch mehr als zwei Jahre Corona-Pandemie mit all ihren Begleiterscheinungen und der enormen Teuerung infolge des russischen Angriffskrieges auf die Ukraine, vor allem der damit verbundenen Steigerung der Energiepreise.

NPT +50: The next review conference

Should the Covid pandemic not require another postponement due to Omikron, the next NPT review conference will take place in New York in January.

The 2021 OSCE Swedish Chairpersonship

In a nutshell, the first 100 days

Sweden took over the OSCE Chairpersonship in January 2021 as the largest regional security organization with 57 participating States representing more than one billion people from North America, through Europe to Central Asia.

Das Ringen mit Corona

Die Pandemie fordert die Gesellschaft, Politik und Wirtschaft heraus.

Am 16. März 2020 trat in Österreich der erste Lockdown aufgrund der Corona-Pandemie in Kraft. Die Grundlage dafür bildete das erste Corona-Gesetz, das in einer Sondersitzung des Nationalrats am Abend vorher (einem Sonntag) verabschiedet wurde. Zu dieser Zeit wusste noch niemand, in welcher Weise die Pandemie das Land fordern wird.

Zukunft der Volksparteien – Am Beispiel Österreichs

von Wolfgang C. Müller

Der Begriff „Volkspartei“ ist historisch betrachtet kein wissenschaftlicher Terminus, sondern stammt aus der politischen Praxis, ja war zuerst „politischer Kampfbegriff“...

Schwieriges Fahrwasser für die OSZE im Jahr der Jubiläen

45 Jahre Schlussakte von Helsinki, 30 Jahre Pariser Charta, 25 Jahre OSZE – viele Jubiläen, wenig Grund zum Feiern

Vor 30 Jahren, am 21. November 1990, verabschiedeten die Staats- und Regierungschefs der 34 Teilnehmerstaaten der KSZE in Paris die ‚Charta von Paris für ein neues Europa‘. Das Jubiläum ist eine gute Gelegenheit für einen Blick zurück und einen Blick nach vorne.