Austria confirms Foreign Minister Schallenberg's appointment as acting chancellor

The office of Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has confirmed the appointment of Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg as acting federal chancellor. This was announced by the presidential chancellery on January 8 in the social network Instagram (owned by Meta Corporation, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).

It is specified that Schallenberg will take the oath of office on January 10. He will combine the positions of foreign Minister and Chancellor.

The head of Austrian diplomacy has previously headed the government - in 2021 he became Chancellor after the resignation of Sebastian Kurz.

Earlier, on January 4, Austrian Chancellor and head of the Austrian People's Party (NPP) Karl Nehammer said that he would leave his posts after the failure of negotiations on the creation of a governing coalition following the results of parliamentary elections in September.

On January 5, President Alexander Van der Bellen said that Austria would have a new chancellor taking office next week. He also noted that the new chancellor would serve until a new cabinet is formed.