By Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) -The leaders of the three biggest centrist parties in Austria’s parliament said on Saturday they were confident they would reach a deal to form a coalition government without the far right, almost five months after a new lower house was elected.
A deal between the conservative People’s Party (OVP), Social Democrats (SPO) and liberal Neos would bring to an end the longest wait for a new Austrian government since World War Two.
“I am very confident that in the common ground that we have found, we will manage to finalize a coalition government agreement,” conservative People’s Party leader Christian Stocker said in a statement to the media at President Alexander Van der Bellen’s office.
Stocker was speaking alongside SPO leader Andreas Babler and Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger after they updated Van der Bellen on their talks together.
“I believe that Mr Stocker, Mr Babler and Mrs Meinl-Reisinger are now in the final straight in their discussions,” Van der Bellen said. None of them went into detail on their discussions or gave a time frame for reaching a deal.
The far-right Freedom Party (FPO) won September’s parliamentary election with around 29% but was only tasked with forming a coalition government in January after a first attempt by the OVP, SPO and Neos failed. Efforts to forge that three-way tie-up were revived after the FPO’s attempt failed last week.
The lengthy wrangling that could now finally yield Austria’s first three-party government since 1949 underscores the difficulty many European countries have faced in forming stable governments while far-right parties like the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPO) gain ground with voters.
The FPO has denounced any possible government without it as a “coalition of losers” since the three parties came second, third and fourth in September’s election.
(Reporting by Francois MurphyEditing by Dave Graham)
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