VIENNA (AP) 鈥� Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will serve as the country's interim leader while the attempts to put together a new coalition government, the president's office said Wednesday.
Schallenberg, 55, will take on the duties of outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who over the weekend after his efforts to put together a coalition without the Freedom Party collapsed. Nehammer plans to step down on Friday.
President Alexander Van der Bellen's office said in a statement that the head of state will formally task Schallenberg with 鈥渃ontinuing the management of the chancellery and leading the interim government.鈥�
It will be Schallenberg鈥檚 second 鈥� and, again, likely brief 鈥� stint as Austria鈥檚 leader. Schallenberg served as chancellor for less than two months in late 2021 after Sebastian Kurz resigned, before and returning to the Foreign Ministry.
The anti-immigration, euroskeptic and Russia-friendly Freedom Party won Austria鈥檚 in September, but was initially shunned by other parties.
After Nehammer announced his resignation, his conservative Austrian People鈥檚 Party made an abrupt U-turn on its previous refusal to contemplate working with the Freedom Party under its leader, Herbert Kickl.
On Monday, Kickl to try to form what would be the first national government led by the far right since World War II. That's a process that could take weeks or months, and isn't guaranteed to succeed.
Schallenberg has said he wouldn鈥檛 stay in the government under Kickl.
The Associated Press
