What’s next? Austria’s political crisis deepens after failed coalition talks with far right

Austria faces a deepening political crisis. The far-right Freedom Party led by Herbert Kickl won 29 percent of votes in national elections last September. Since then, the party has been unable to form a coalition government with the conservative Austrian People’s Party on multiple occasions. According to The New York Times, the most recent talks collapsed on Wednesday because the two parties could not agree on who should get the interior ministry portfolio. Kickl’s party wanted it to push their anti-immigration policies. The conservatives were worried that if the far right got the portfolio, foreign intelligence agencies would stop cooperating with the interior ministry, which controls Austria’s intelligence agencies. On Wednesday, Kickl announced he was giving up his mandate. The Austrian liberal paper Die Presse wonders: “What happens now?” In its editorial, the paper says that Austria has been spared a Chancellor Herbert Kickl, for the time being at least. The editor calls the crisis “political dysfunction” bordering on embarrassment. The coalition talks have lasted for five months, the longest in Austrian politics since 1945. Der Standard, a left-leaning liberal paper, announces emphatically that Kickl has failed. In its editorial, the paper says Kickl is not fit to govern for countless reasons, evoking his decision in 2018 as interior minister to dismantle the Federal Office for the protection of the constitution with the help of people suspected of spying for the Russians.

In France, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou is accused of covering up physical and sexual violence at a Catholic school. The scandal is relayed by French investigative website Mediapart. It concerns a private Catholic school called Notre-Dame de Betharram. The school is accused of allowing physical and sexual violence on students over nearly six decades. Bayrou’s wife was a teacher there and some of his children attended the school. Bayrou, who was president of the general council of the department where the school is located, says he had no idea about the accusations levelled against the school. Mediapart says he had to have known – he met with a judge investigating the priest accused of the crimes in 1998. Bayrou angrily defended himself in parliament on Tuesday, saying that he would file for defamation if necessary. Some opposition MPs accuse him of having lied before parliament.

Elsewhere, swamps and marshes may be a boring part of nature, but they could play a crucial role in combating global warming. As The Washington Post notes: “The soggy spots has been dismissed as inhospitable smudges on the map.” Swamps, bogs, fens – whatever you call peatlands, no one is exactly rushing to visit them and yet, they will play a crucial role in the future. Under the soggy soil, swamps trap huge amounts of CO2. And yet, less than a fifth of world’s peatlands are protected. If they disappear, they could release all that trapped gas into the air. In Canada for instance, peatlands are at risk because stocked underneath are vast sources of clean energy that authorities hope to exploit. Meanwhile, DR Congo is home to largest swathes of tropical peatland – but farmers want to drain them to grow crops. A new study from journal Conservation Letters this week warns that restoring peatlands and protecting them will be crucial to fighting against climate change.

Finally: Andy Murray is a grand slam-winning tennis player known for his exploits on-court, but he’s no skier! The Telegraph explains that Murray revealed that he had to be rescued from the Swiss Alps in a recent embarrassing first attempt at skiing. He was trying to take on a 3km downhill slope at the end of the day after the lifts had closed. After picking up speed, he quickly realized he had no idea what he was doing. Thankfully, rescuers came to help him off the mountain. Murray says he still plans to go back skiing later this year. It turns out that you can win grand slam titles, but skiing is a pretty tough sport to nail!

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