Austrian far-right leader Herbert Kickl and his prospective coalition partners said Monday that they have reached an agreement to bring down the budget deficit, an important first step toward what would be the country's first post-World War II government led by the far right.
Kickl, whose Freedom Party won Austria's parliamentary election in September, received a mandate to try to form a government with the conservative Austrian People's Party a week ago. The latter had previously attempted to form a government without Kickl, but lengthy talks with two other mainstream parties collapsed — with the question of how to get the country's finances in shape a key sticking point.
