Austria’s president has tasked the anti-migration, pro-Kremlin Freedom party (FPÖ) with holding talks to form a ruling coalition, potentially paving the way for the far right to lead the government for the first time since the second world war.
After meeting the FPÖ leader, Herbert Kickl, at the Hofburg palace in Vienna, Alexander van der Bellen said the party, which narrowly won the most votes in September’s general election, could begin negotiations with the conservative Austrian People’s party (ÖVP) on forming a governing alliance.
