Austrian conservatives bring far right into government

VIENNA: Austria is set to become the only western European country with a far-right party in government after the anti-immigration Freedom Party and Sebastian Kurz’s conservatives struck a coalition deal they plan to present on Saturday.

Kurz, who is just 31, and Freedom Party (FPO) leader Heinz-Christian Strache announced their deal on Friday night, handing the far right a share of power for the third time in the Alpine republic, after more than a decade in opposition.

They said they would unveil details later on Saturday after meeting Austria’s president and obtaining formal approval from their party leaderships.

The FPO will take control of much of Austria’s security apparatus as the deal puts it in charge of the foreign, interior and defense ministries, a spokesman for Kurz’s People’s Party (OVP) said. The OVP will control the Finance Ministry as well the justice and agriculture portfolios.

“If everything goes as we imagine it will, nothing stands in the way of the future government being sworn it at the start of the coming week,” President Alexander Van der Bellen, whose powers include appointing and dismissing governments, said after meeting Kurz and Strache on Saturday morning.

Van der Bellen beat a far-right candidate in last year’s close-fought presidential election with a pro-European platform.

His defeated opponent, Norbert Hofer, will become infrastructure minister in the next government, the OVP spokesman said. Kurz will head the government as chancellor and the OVP will have eight ministries including his office. The FPO will have six, including Strache’s office as vice chancellor.