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Austrian ruling coalition continues crisis talks

Xinhua, January 28, 2017 Adjust font size:

The two parties to the Austrian federal coalition government will continue their crisis talks through the weekend, to determine whether early elections will need to be held, local media reported on Saturday.

Discussions about the viability of the present government have been ongoing this week, with officials from both the Social Democrats (SPO) and the People's Party (OVP) at both state and federal levels arguing that the present government should be abandoned this year due to not seeing eye-to-eye.

Local media reports said opinions of officials have in recent days shifted back and forth from claims that the differences between the two parties are insurmountable and that the new elections could be held within just a few months, to a stabilizing of the situation following positive talks.

Chancellor Christian Kern had initially set a deadline for the negotiations to be concluded on Friday, though this will now be extended over the weekend, the chancellor himself having cancelled a planned trip to Israel and Palestine because of this.

The full term of the government would otherwise not require elections to be held until late 2018.

Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner of the OVP on Friday said that both sides "must be flexible" in the intense negotiations. Enditem