Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said on Sunday he would meet far-right Freedom Party (FPO) leader Herbert Kickl on Monday after efforts to form a coalition without the FPO collapsed and conservative Chancellor Karl Neuhammer quit.

“The voices within the (conservative) People’s Party ruling out cooperation with the FPO under Herbert Kickle have quieted down. This in turn means that a new path may be opening that did not exist before,” Van der Bellen said in a speech of.

In the meantime, after the resignation of Chancellor Karl Neuhammer, the former general secretary of the People’s Party (ÖVP), Christian Stocker, takes over as interim president.

The outgoing chancellor and leader of the ÖVP has since gone to federal president Alexander Van der Bellen to formally inform him of the failure of the government formation negotiations and of his decisions. According to information from the Austrian media, the talks with the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) broke down when the “economic wing” of the People’s Party intervened and formulated demands that could not be met.

The most likely scenario after yesterday’s developments is now the assignment of an exploratory mandate to the election winner Herbert Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) in order to negotiate a government coalition, possibly with the ÖVP.

Indeed, in a latest development, Austria’s new conservative leader said on Sunday that he expects the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which came first in September’s parliamentary elections, to form a government.

“I expect that the leader of the party with the most votes will take it upon himself to form a future government. If we are invited to these (coalition) talks, we will accept that invitation,” said People’s Party (OVP) general secretary Christian Stocker.