Heinz-Christian “HC” Strache, the former leader of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), has lashed out at his successor Herbert Kickl.
In a statement on X on March 10, Strache blamed Kickl for failing to form a coalition with the Conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and prematurely retiring the mandate to from a government.
He said that had resulted in the formation of the left-leaning triple coalition between ÖVP, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Liberal Neos party that is now ruling Austria.
“Who forced Kickl to give back [the mandate]? Rather than continuing to negotiate with ÖVP transparently and at eye-level to seek a positive alliance in the form of a centre-right government, which is so necessary for our homeland, the current ÖVP-SPÖ-Neos government was made possible,” Strache said.
Kickl gave back the mandate to form a government on February 12 after FPÖ and ÖVP reportedly could not agree on how to divide the ministries in a future coalition government.
Even though his party won the September 2024 election, Kickl had only received the mandate from Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen after lengthy talks between ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos had collapsed in early January.
Mere days after the end of the FPÖ-ÖVP talks, the FPÖs renewed the negotiations with the SPÖ.
On March 3, the new government was sworn in – denounced by some centrist commentators as “the most left-leaning government so far” as the coalition agreement contained mainly demands of the SPÖ and few of the right-wing or libertarian points previously espoused by the other two coalition parties.
In his post, Strache blamed Kickl for “resurrecting the self-called Marxist [Andreas] Babler”, leader of the SPÖ and now Vice Chancellor.
Kickl’s “lack of compromise” had cost Austria “five good years”, according to Strache. “Kickl has not used the historical window for an FPÖ-led government and strong Freedom Party contents and thus done a disservice to our Austrian homeland,” he continued.
Strache asked what would change in future parliamentary elections when the only eligible coalition partner would once again be the ÖVP as “there will not be an absolute majority for FPÖ”. He insisted that without the willingness to compromise there could be no change for the country.
“To be frank: All the negative decisions by ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos we will unfortunately also [attribute] to Herbert Kickl to a certain degree,” he concluded.
There was no immediate official reaction from the FPÖ or Kickl to Strache’s criticism.
Brussels Signal reached out to FPÖ for comment but had not heard back at the time of writing.
On social media, right-wingers criticised Strache for his remarks.
Right-wing pundit Gerald Markel accused him of “trying public political suicide” and maintained that Kickl could never have consented to the maximalist demands by ÖVP. FPÖ representatives have repeatedly accused the ÖVP of negotiating for appearances only.
Strache is running with his own Team HC Strache party in the Vienna city council elections in April 2025. He formed the party after leaving FPÖ in 2019.
