'Power shift' within EU inevitable if far-right leader Kickl forms Austrian government, analyst says

The FPÖ party leader has invited the ÖVP to coalition talks, signalling his intention to bury the hatchet between the two parties.

Transcript

00:00A shift in power within the European Union is inevitable if Austrian far-right leader

00:07Herbert Kickl forms a government, according to a political analyst.

00:13Kickl and his Freedom Party are currently preparing for potential coalition talks with

00:17the conservative OVP party.

00:21No doubt, with Chancellor Kickl, there will be a slight shift in power within the European Union.

00:31Kickl's party secured victory in recent parliamentary elections, surpassing outgoing Chancellor

00:36Karl Nehammer and his party, which came in second.

00:40The Austrian president initially tasked Nehammer with forming a government.

00:43However, the OVP refused to enter a coalition with the Freedom Party under Kickl, leading

00:48to a political stalemate.

00:50Kickl was then greenlit to attempt to form a coalition.

00:53I would say he needs a symbolic beacon, a symbolic picture.

00:59That will certainly be a question of migration and integration.

01:03But he also has to signal that he is something like a reformer.

01:08That means he has to at least emphasize things that the previous government did not.

01:13If Kickl succeeds in forming a coalition, it would be the first far-right government

01:18in Austria since World War II.

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