DISAGREEMENT OVER taxes and Austria’s future in the EU have stalled coalition talks between Austria’s two main political parties seven weeks after the general election.
Social Democrat (SPÖ) leader Werner Faymann, winner of the election, met for private talks yesterday with his opposite number in the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), Josef Pröll, to try to get negotiations back on track.
Mr Pröll pulled the brake on Sunday and fired off a list of 10 questions for the SPÖ to answer, including one on the country’s future in the EU.
Mr Faymann received huge backing in the election campaign from the Kronenzeitung tabloid after promising, also in the newspaper, to put future EU treaties to the vote in Austria.
The SPÖ side-stepped the referendum issue in its answer to Mr Pröll, calling instead for “an active role for Austria in the further development of the European integration process”.
“Austria has to remain a dependable partner for its European neighbours and continue to act for a strong, united and fair Europe,” the party said in a statement.
Political observers said that the two parties were working on the wording of a statement which would allow both sides to save face on the EU issue.
“Both the SPÖ and the ÖVP are united on the European question like no other parties,” said Doris Bures, chief SPÖ negotiator.
“The SPÖ says yes to Europe, but is working towards a Europe that is social and closer to the people. We will find a consensus in negotiations.”
In the ÖVP, however, backbenchers and leading figures such as former commissioner Franz Fischler want to head for the opposition benches after the party polled a historic low of 26 per cent.
That would leave the SPÖ with the option of a minority government or co-operation with right-wing populists who, divided between the FPÖ and the BZÖ party of the late Jörg Haider, achieved a score of nearly 30 per cent in the September election.