BERLIN - Austria’s main centre-right party and the environmentalist Greens appear to be closing in on a coalition deal that would return ex-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to power and end the reign of a non-partisan interim government. The 33-year-old Kurz’s People’s Party embarked on negotiations with the Greens in mid-November, weeks after it emerged as by far the biggest party from an election. The new government, assuming that the talks are successful, is likely to be significantly different from Kurz’s previous alliance with the far-right Freedom Party. Kurz led a coalition with the Freedom Party for 17 months until May, when a video showing then-Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache offering favours to a purported Russian investor prompted Kurz to pull the plug. The Freedom Party said after the election, in which it suffered significant losses, that it preferred to go into opposition to rebuild itself.

Source: thestar December 30, 2019 13:07 UTC