After five months of talks, the liberal Neos party voted to enter into a coalition agreement with the center-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the Austrian conservative Peo.
According to foreign media, the three parties had announced the coalition agreement last week, but members of the liberal Neos party still had to approve the agreement to join the government.
The new government will be sworn in on Monday, ending a five-month wait since Austria’s far-right FPÖ (Freedom Party) came out on top in national elections with around 29% of the vote.
This was the longest period in Austrian politics for the formation of a coalition.
The alliance between the three parties was one of the last options to avoid early elections, which polls suggest would have increased the FPÖ’s lead.
If members of Neo’s party had not agreed to enter the coalition, the SPÖ and ÖVP parties would have been left with a parliamentary majority of just one seat – considered too narrow to govern effectively.
And this is the first time the liberal Neos party will participate in a federal government in the party’s 13-year history.
The coalition government in waiting is set to impose stricter measures on asylum seekers – including at least a temporary pause on family reunification – revised tenancy laws and planned cuts to benefits. /Telegraph/