Pressure grows on Austrian conservatives to end coalition talks with far right

By Francois Murphy

VIENNA (Reuters) - The conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP) came under growing pressure on Tuesday to end its coalition talks with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) as a deal to form the first ever FPO-led government appeared increasingly unlikely.

The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO came first in September's parliamentary election with roughly 29% of the vote but was only asked to form a government last month once a centrist attempt to forge a ruling coalition without it collapsed.

The OVP is the FPO's only potential partner. Their talks have, however, seemed largely stuck as details of their policy disagreements on issues including immigration, the European Union and sanctions on Russia have emerged and the FPO insisted it should control the powerful finance and interior ministries.

"It is very, very unlikely that it will work out," OVP foreign-policy negotiator Reinhold Lopatka, also a member of the European parliament, told the Kleine Zeitung newspaper, adding: "It doesn't make much sense to carry on."

A 223-page document leaked over the weekend summarising the talks so far, with points agreed on in green and points of disagreement in red, showed just how far apart the two sides were, even on immigration, where both take a hard line.

The document dated February 4, seen by Reuters, showed the OVP did not back FPO proposals such as interpreting international courts' rulings as restrictively as possible, negotiating Austrian exceptions to EU sanctions against Russia, and paying damages to those "harmed" by legislation on COVID-19.

Until FPO leader Herbert Kickl was tasked with forming a government, the OVP had described him as an extremist and a conspiracy theorist. He opposed COVID restrictions such as lockdowns and has moved his party closer to right-wing groups classified as extremist, such as the Identitarian movement.

While the coalition talks teetered, the two centrist parties that had tried to form a coalition in talks led by the OVP - the Social Democrats (SPO) and the liberal Neos - said they were prepared to negotiate with the OVP again.

"There are alternatives to a Herbert Kickl chancellorship," Neos leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in a statement.

"All paths are open to the OVP and therefore all paths are open to Austria. It (the OVP) can take a different path if it wants to. No one is hostage to a self-appointed Fuehrer."

(Reporting by Francois Murphy, Editing by William Maclean)