Austrian People’s Party nominates Christian Stocker as interim leader after Nehammer resigns

Christian Stocker is seen as an experienced and calm crisis communicator who has frequently appeared in Austrian media to defend controversial decisions. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Austrian People’s Party on Sunday (January 5, 2025) nominated its General Secretary Christian Stocker as interim leader after the expected resignation of Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Austrian news agency APA reported.

Mr. Nehammer announced Saturday (January 4, 2025) he would resign in the next few days after coalition talks with the Social Democrats collapsed.

Mr. Stocker, a lawyer and member of the Austrian Parliament, has served as General Secretary of the People’s Party since 2022. He is seen as an experienced and calm crisis communicator who has frequently appeared in Austrian media to defend controversial decisions.

It is not clear yet who will become acting chancellor until a new government is formed.

Protected by special police forces, Mr. Nehammer walked across the square from the Chancellery toward the president’s office in Vienna.

“What is important for me is that the way of stability and the center can be continued,” he said.

Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen will make a public statement to announce the next steps once the meeting with Mr. Nehammer is over.

The 52-year-old Nehammer became chancellor and conservative party leader in 2021, after his predecessor Sebastian Kurz was forced to stand down following allegations of corruption.

In April 2022, Mr. Nehammer became the first European leader to visit Moscow and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Before going to Moscow, he also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Austria was thrown into political turmoil on Friday (January 3, 2025) after the liberal party NEOS pulled out of coalition talks with the center-left Social Democrats and the conservative People’s Party.

On Saturday (January 4, 2025), the two remaining parties, who have a razor-thin majority in Parliament, made another attempt to negotiate and form a government — but this effort also ended in failure after a few hours, with negotiators saying they were unable to agree on how to repair the budget deficit.