Austria's conservatives, Greens to form coalition government

VIENNA - Austria's conservatives and the Greens agreed to form a coalition government on Wednesday, ending almost three months of negotiations.

The agreement means Austria will have the left-wing Greens in government for the first time.

"We have reached an agreement," Sebastian Kurz, Austria's former chancellor and leader of conservative People's Party, told reporters in a joint press conference with Wener Kogler, his counterpart from the Greens.

The two will become chancellor and vice chancellor of the upcoming government, though the Greens, in a junior role, could gain just four of 15 ministries. This spectrum is roughly in accordance with their achievements in the Sept 29 election, when People's Party won with 37.5 percent of the vote as the Greens ranked 4th with 13.9 percent.

But they did not unveil details of their plan.

Disputes over budget, taxes, immigration, climate change and political transparency have afflicted the two parties for weeks. Kurz stresses a tough anti-immigration position and business-friendly policies, while Greens advocate pluralism and climate protection.

This deal brought Kurz back to chancellery, after a political scandal led his coalition with the far-right Freedom Party to catastrophe.

A video released in May 2019 exposed Heinz-Christian Strache, chief of the Freedom Party, discussing potential infrastructure and media deals with a Russian businesswoman. Kurz, as the then chancellor, was forced to leave office.

However, the People's Party led by Kurz won again in parliamentary elections late September.