Over for EU? Sebastian Kurz to form government in Austria: 'I want to bring REAL CHANGE'

The new leader, 31, swept to power last week and has been formally asked by President Alexander Van der Bellen to forge a team.

Mr Kurz finished first in Sunday’s election after he secured 31.5 per cent of the vote, winning by a clear margin but falling well short of the majority needed to control parliament in the affluent Alpine republic.

He said: “I would like to build a government that has the courage and determination to bring real change to Austria.

“I will now get straight to work and hold the first discussions, definitely in the coming days, and possibly even today.”

He now plans to hold talks with all the parties in the new parliament.

Mr Kurz, who is the current foreign minister in the outgoing government, is on track to become Europe’s youngest leader.

The likeliest coalition partner for his Austrian People’s Party is the right-wing, anti-immigration Freedom Party. 

But he could also try to renew its alliance with the centre-left Social Democrats, who led the increasingly fractious outgoing administration.

Austria’s next leader campaigned on a platform that combined a hard line on immigration similar to that of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) with traditional conservative principles like slimming down the state and cutting taxes.

He said he would start by holding talks with all parties in parliament although only two of them, the Social Democrats (SPO) and FPO, have enough seats to give him a majority if they go into coalition with the OVP.

Mr Kurz went to Brussels on Thursday to assure European Union leaders of his support, allaying concerns that Austria country would become a dissonant voice in the EU with the anti-immigrant far right likely to enter its government.

It became clear after neighbouring Germany’s election last month that it was headed towards a three-way “Jamaica” coalition – so called because the parties’ colours match that country’s flag. Austria’s political future could be colourful too.

In Austria as in Germany, each party is traditionally associated with a colour – black for Mr Kurz’s OVP, red for the centre-left SPO and blue for the far-right FPO.