Austria: 3 Centrist parties form coalition, 5 months after election

After five months of political stalement, three political parties in Austria have announced that they have reached a deal to form a coalition government that excludes the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), five months after the FPO won the parliamentary election in September. The agreement follows September’s elections in which the far-right Freedom Party emerged as the largest political force but failed to form a government. Christian Stocker, leader of the People’s Party, is set to become the new chancellor. The coalition will address key issues such as migration, economic reform, and extremism. The agreement includes stricter asylum policies, a headscarf ban for girls under 14, and measures to combat radicalization. 
The deal announcement should bring to a close the longest wait for a new government in Austria since World War II. A first attempt to form a ruling coalition with the same three parties collapsed in January, forcing Chancellor Karl Nehammer to announce his resignation.The Eurosceptic and Russia-friendly FPO was then tasked with forming a new government, but that bid also failed.
FPO leader Herbert Kickl has dismissed the tie-up as a “coalition of losers”, calling for a snap election that opinion polls suggest would increase his party’s share of the vote further from about 29 percent in September. FPO often likens the centrist effort to the three-party coalition in neighbouring Germany that recently collapsed. The coalition will be under pressure to deliver results, including shrinking the budget deficit and avoiding the kind of infighting that has felled previous governments.