Austria's cabinetmaking talk ends without substantial achievement

The talks on the resumption of the negotiations between the People's Party (OeVP) and the Social Democrats (SPOe) on cabinetmaking ended without substantial achievement in Vienna on Friday.

Due to the divergence on the investigation into Austria's purchase of Eurofighters and the Bawag bank scandal by two parliamentary committees, the two parties did not reach consensus on the resumption of the negotiations.

"From now on, the talks are informal," said Alfred Gusenbauer, leader of the SPOe, while Wolfgang Schussel, leader of the OeVP, considered that the talks involving the top leaders were not negotiations, but "unmeaningful talks."

The OeVP insisted that the negotiations with the SPOe be restarted only after the committees finished the investigation. But the SPOe urged the OeVP to resume the negotiations as soon as possible and finish them before the witness inquiry process was introduced by the committees at the beginning of December.

According to local reports, the two party leaders discussed how to resume the negotiations to build a stable coalition, but the details were just "cursorily discussed."

The SPOe defeated the OeVP in the parliamentary elections on Oct. 1, and began to negotiate with the OeVP for a grand coalition government on Oct. 13.

Due to serious divergence between the two parties, the OeVP quit the negotiations on Oct. 30.

If negotiations between SPOe and OeVP finally break down, the SPOe could form a coalition cabinet with other parties, or reelection should be held.

Source: Xinhua