Christian Stocker was sworn in as Austria's new chancellor on Monday, heading a three-party coalition government formed five months after last year's election. Stocker's center-right People's Party (ÖVP), the center-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the liberal Neos clinched a deal last week after their first attempt to form a coalition failed in January. Grassroots members of the Neos voted overwhelmingly in favor of the coalition agreement with the two other parties on Sunday, removing the last obstacle for the three to take office. The SPÖ's leader Andreas Babler has been sworn in as vice-chancellor. "Good things come to those who wait," Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen joked at the ceremony as he swore in the new government, referencing the five months coalition negotiations had taken — the longest in the country's history. Stocker, 64, has never served in a national government, and his name was not originally on the ballot when Austrians headed to the polls last September. He took over the role of ÖVP's head from former chancellor Karl Nehammer, who resigned in January when initial negotiations between the three parties broke down. A former lawyer, Stocker has been a member of the Austrian parliament since 2019 and served as general secretary of the party from September 2022 until he replaced Nehammer. The country's new chancellor said he didn't even expect to be made leader of the ÖVP when Nehammer resigned. "The day the decision was taken, I drove to Vienna in jeans and a roll-neck jumper," Stocker told Austrian daily Die Presse. "A few hours later, I had to ask for a suit and tie to be brought to me," he revealed. Stocker has expressed his commitment to the European Union and is critical of Russia — policies that clashed with the leader of the far-right Austria's Freedom Party (FPÖ), Hebert Kickl, who came first in the election with 28% of the vote. After Kickl's own negotiations to form a coalition with the ÖVP fell apart, the controversial winner of the election now remains locked in opposition. Stocker will head the Alpine country's first three-party coalition since the later 1940s. The coalition agreement, unveiled last week, includes introducing stricter measures for asylum seekers, revising tenancy laws and implementing planned benefits cuts. — Euronews
