Austria will be able to ring in a new decade with a new government, after the conservative Austria’s People’s Party, led by Sebastian Kurz, and the Green Party agreed to a preliminary coalition deal on Saturday night.
The agreement comes three months after the country's parliamentary elections, in which former Chancellor Kurz's party came first, with 37 percent of the vote, and the Greens returned to parliament on the back of growing concern over climate change.
The preliminary deal still needs to be signed off by the Greens' Federal Congress, which has been summoned to meet on January 4, Reuters reported.
"The intensive negotiations of the past days and weeks have paid off. The finish line has not yet been crossed, but the big obstacles in the way of a coalition have been cleared from both sides," Kurz told Austrian daily Salzburger Nachrichten on Sunday.
Austria has been governed by a technocratic interim government — under the leadership of senior judge Brigitte Bierlein — since late May, when Kurz lost a no-confidence vote in the wake of a corruption scandal that brought down the governing coalition between his People's Party and the far-right Freedom Party. The so-called Ibiza scandal was triggered by a video appearing to show Heinz-Christian Strache — then the Freedom Party's leader — attempting to trade public contracts for campaign support from a woman he thought to be a wealthy Russian.
Immigration and the budget were the main sticking points in the negotiations, according to Austrian media. The Greens are pushing for an investment package for environmental measures, and Kurz has said he wants to continue his hard line on immigration.
"Many seemingly insurmountable hurdles have already been overcome. Some important questions are still open and should be clarified in the next few days," said Green Party chief Werner Kogler.
The new deal will give the Greens the infrastructure ministry, which also handles environmental and energy issues, according to Salzburger Nachrichten. The Greens will also lead the ministries of justice, social affairs and health, as well as the ministry of art and culture. Kurz's People's Party will take over the foreign, finance, interior, defense, economy, education, and agriculture ministries.
