“I am sure and I hope” that Austria will continue to be fully involved and “a reliable partner” as a member of the European Union, said the President of the European Council, António Costa, on Monday 13 January in Brussels, on the fringes of a meeting with the acting Austrian Chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg.
Mr Costa felt that the democratic choices of the EU Member States should be respected at a time when the Austrian parties have been struggling to form a government since the September 2024 general elections, which were won for the first time by the far-right FPÖ party. Following the failure of talks on forming a government in the centre of the political spectrum, the pro-Russian leader of the FPÖ, Herbert Kickl, has been tasked with forming a government.
In the meantime, Mr Schallenberg made his first trip to Brussels, where he pledged that his country, “in these difficult times”, would remain reliable and continue to defend “the rule of law, the protection of minorities, media freedom and international law”, red lines also set down by the Austrian President, Alexander Van der Bellen. “This is non-negotiable”, said Mr Schallenberg. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)