Overview

• Christian Stocker, a previously low-profile politician, has become Austria's chancellor following months of coalition negotiations after the September election.
• Stocker leads Austria's first three-party coalition government in decades, composed of the conservative People's Party, Social Democrats, and liberal Neos.
• The coalition aims to navigate Austria through a recession, rising unemployment, and budgetary constraints while introducing stricter asylum policies.
• The far-right Freedom Party, which won the most votes in the election, remains in opposition after its coalition talks with the People's Party collapsed.
• Stocker, seen as pragmatic and steady, faces the challenge of maintaining unity within a fragile coalition as Austria's political landscape shifts.