Key facts
- Austrian Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler will step down early next year.
- Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer will replace Babler as vice chancellor.
- Babler will also resign as leader of the Social Democrats.
- Coalition talks between the People's Party and the Social Democrats have failed.
- Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will resign as chancellor and party leader.
- Nehammer cited an inability to reach agreement on key points with the Social Democrats.
Austrian Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler announced on Sunday that he will step down from his position early next year, coinciding with his resignation as leader of the ruling Social Democrats. The party's leadership agreed that Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer, who is undergoing cancer treatment, would replace Babler as vice chancellor.
Separately, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced on Saturday that he would resign from his roles as chancellor and leader of the People's Party following the collapse of coalition talks with the Social Democrats. Nehammer stated that an agreement on key points with the Social Democrats was not possible, and his party would not agree to measures hostile to business or new taxes. The failure of these negotiations, which had been ongoing since November, casts uncertainty over Austria's political landscape.