Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will take over as caretaker chancellor on Friday from Karl Nehammer, who quit when centrist coalition talks collapsed last weekend, President Alexander Van der Bellen's office said on Wednesday.

Austria's foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg will take over as caretaker chancellor from Friday, as the far right seeks to form a government with the conservatives, the presidential office announced.

If Kickl — who is expected to cozy up to the Kremlin and pursue hard-line policies in areas like migration — successfully forms a government he would become Austria’s new chancellor and the country’s first far-right leader since the end of World War II.

The Austrian president's office says Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will serve as the country’s interim leader while the far-right Freedom Party attempts to put together a new coalition gover

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg is to serve as interim chancellor until a new government is formed, the office of President Alexander van der Bellen announced on Wednesday. Schallenberg is to lead the current coalition between the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Greens until a new government is formed.