Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen (centre) signs papers next to Chancellor Christian Stocker during the swearing-in ceremony of the Federal Government in the presidential office at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025
AUSTRIA’S new government took office today, with Christian Stocker appointed chancellor at the head of a previously untried three-party coalition after a five-month wait for a new administration.
The new government will have to deal with rising unemployment, a recession and a creaking budget.
Its coalition agreement, reached on Thursday after the longest negotiations in post-World War II Austria, foresees strict new asylum rules in the country of nine million people.
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