VIENNA (AP) — Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Sunday announced that he would meet with far-right politician Herbert Kickl as speculation grows that he will ask the Freedom Party leader to form a government.
Van der Bellen made the announcement after meeting with Chancellor Karl Nehammer and others at his presidential palace. Nehammer has announced his intention to resign after coalition talks between his conservative Austrian People's Party and the center-left Social Democrats collapsed over the budget.
Nehammer has ruled out working with Kickl, but others within his party are less adamant. Earlier Sunday, the People's Party nominated its general secretary, Christian Stocker, as interim leader, but the president said Nehammer would remain chancellor for now.
Van der Bellen said that he had spent several hours talking to key officials, after which he got the impression that “the voices within the People's Party who exclude working with the Freedom Party under its leader Herbert Kickl have become quieter.”
The president said that this development has “potentially opened a new path," which has prompted him to invite Kickl for a meeting on Monday morning.
Kickl's Freedom Party topped the polls in the autumn's national election with 29.2% of the vote, but Van der Bellen tasked Nehammer with putting together a new government because no other party was willing to work with Kickl.
That decision drew heavy criticism from the Freedom Party and its supporters, with Kickl saying in October that it was “not right and not logical” that he did not get a mandate to form a government.
“We are not responsible for the wasted time, the chaotic situation and the enormous breach of trust that has emerged,” Kickl said Sunday afternoon on social media. “On the contrary: It is clear that the Freedom Party has been and continues to be the only stable factor in Austrian politics.”
Stocker addressed reporters on Sunday afternoon and confirmed that he had been appointed “unanimously” by his party to serve as interim leader. “I am very honored and happy,” he said.
He also welcomed the decision by the president to meet with Kickl and said that he now expects that the leader of the party that emerged as the clear winner from the last election would be tasked with forming a government.
“If we are invited to negotiations to form a government, we will accept this invitation,” Stocker added.
In the past, Stocker has criticized Kickl, calling him a “security risk” for the country.
In its election program titled “Fortress Austria,” the Freedom Party calls for “remigration of uninvited foreigners,” for achieving a more “homogeneous” nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law.
The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defense project launched by Germany. The Freedom Party has also signed a friendship agreement in 2016 with Putin’s United Russia Party that it now claims has expired.
Kickl has criticized “elites” in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the European Union to Austria.
Austria was thrown into political turmoil on Friday after the liberal party Neos pulled out of coalition talks with the the People's Party and the Social Democrats. On Saturday the two remaining parties, who have only a one-seat majority in Parliament, made another attempt to form a government — but that also ended in failure after a few hours, with negotiators saying they were unable to agree on how to repair the budget deficit.
Austrian Peoples' Party (OeVP) secretary general Christian Stocker addresses a news conference, in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, as the party nominated him as interim leader after the expected resignation of Chancellor Karl Nehammer. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)
Austrian Peoples' Party (OeVP) secretary general Christian Stocker addresses a news conference, in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, as the party nominated him as interim leader after the expected resignation of Chancellor Karl Nehammer. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)
Exterior view of the Austrian Peoples' Party's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 05, 2025. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)
FILE - Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer attends a press conference in Vienna on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)
HONOLULU (AP) — A 3-year-old boy who died Monday was the fourth person to succumb to injuries from a massive explosion of fireworks on New Year's Eve at a Honolulu home, and a doctor said six others faced long recoveries in Arizona, where they were sent to be treated for severe burns.
The blast also killed three women and injured more than 20 people, many of whom have burns over most of their bodies.
The Honolulu medical examiner identified the toddler as Cassius Ramos-Benigno. The cause and manner of death were listed as pending.
The U.S. military flew six of the injured to Phoenix for treatment on Saturday because Hawaii’s lone burn center doesn’t have enough capacity to care for all the victims.
After the disaster, Hawaii's leaders intensified their oft-repeated calls to crack down on the state's vast illegal fireworks trade with stepped-up enforcement and greater penalties.
The six taken to Arizona are all in their 20s or 30s and have extensive burns, Dr. Kevin Foster, the director of the Arizona Burn Center, said at a news conference streamed online.
The person with the least has burns over 45% of their body while the most has burns over nearly 80% of their body. Each of the six is using a breathing tube and five are in medically induced comas.
Foster said they are all doing “very well” and have good vital signs. But it will be six months to a year before any are able to return to anything resembling a normal life, Foster said. Four patients will likely have to remain intubated and in a coma for weeks, he said.
The patients will likely suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, Foster said, adding the burn center has two full-time psychologists and a psychiatrist hospital on staff to help them.
“There’s something uniquely and particularly horrifying about being burned, especially from this type of injury,” Foster said. “And we anticipate that all of these patients are going to have some adjustment issues.”
Many required emergency surgery before leaving Hawaii and a number had traumatic injuries in addition to burns, because of the explosions and resulting projectiles, he said.
The Arizona Burn Center operated on all six on Sunday, performed three other surgeries Monday and plan three others Tuesday. By then, doctors should be done with removing burns and will progress to closing wounds and grafting skin, Foster said. Infections are the most dangerous and feared complication for burn patients, he said, while also predicting all would likely get them at some point.
“It’s just the way burn injury works, especially when you have large percent-of-total-body-surface-area burns like this,” Foster said.
The scars, and the physical limitations that come with them, will likely be the biggest thing that the patients have to deal with and are what will make these wounds lifelong injuries, he said.
Foundations affiliated with the burn center and the hospital it is a part of, Valleywise Health, are providing housing for patient relatives. Some burn center employees have even volunteered their homes, Foster said.
Hawaii’s diverse population has long celebrated New Year’s with fireworks, but in recent years, professional-grade aerial explosives have been growing in popularity even though they are illegal for amateurs. Neighborhoods across Oahu light up for hours as residents launch aerial fireworks into the sky from the narrow streets in front of their homes.
Honolulu authorities say a person attending a party lit a bundle of aerial fireworks, which fell on its side and shot explosives into two crates that contained additional aerials. Video of the resulting explosion shows a rapid series of blasts shooting fireworks in the air and around the front of a house.
Hawaii’s counties have varying rules on other types of fireworks. On Oahu, the state’s most populous island, only certain types of firecrackers are allowed to be used during specific timeframes on New Year’s Eve, Chinese New Year and Fourth of July. However, many residents set off fireworks of all kinds year-round.
This story has been corrected to show that four of the patients taken to Arizona for treatment will likely have to remain intubated and in a coma for weeks, not months.
Associated Press writer Jennifer Sinco Kelleher contributed to this report.
People walk past the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
A woman sweeps debris from a driveway across the street from the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Evelyn Paguirigan points to broken windows at her home across the street from where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people in Honolulu, on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
A woman walks in front of the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
A view of the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
A woman stands in front of the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
A damaged vehicle is seen near the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Fireworks debris is seen outside the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
A view of the home where a New Year's Eve fireworks explosion killed and injured people, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
