Christian Kern

Austrian President Alexander van der Belen handed over a mandate to form a new government to the leader of the conservative Austrian People's Party Sebastian Kurtz, reports TASS. 

The event is held in the Hofburg Palace.

"Based on the election results, I give you the right to form a government as the party leader who won the majority of the votes," the head of state said.

The far right Freedom Party (FPO), set to become kingmaker after elections on Oct. 15, wants Austria to join the Visegrad Group of central and east European states opposed to immigration, Reuters reported. 

VIENNA - Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern says he is not satisfied with the pace of Serbia's EU accession process and that the matter has long been neglected by Brussels.

"Serbia is a part of Europe and a natural partner of the EU," he told Tanjug in an interview.

Tanjug file photo, Z. Mirkovic

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern will write a letter to the European Commission with an explanation as to why Vienna does not want to participate in the programme of the European Union for the distribution of migrants.

BELGRADE - Serbia and Austria have excellent relations and the strong ties are also promoted by the Serb community in Austria, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern agreed on Friday.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern will visit Belgrade later this week, Tanjug reported on Tuesday.

Kern will be received by Serbian top officials.

Athens on Thursday reacted to reports saying that Berlin has criticized Greece for making poor progress in processing the asylum applications of thousands of refugees stranded on its Aegean islands and foot-dragging in returning rejected asylum-seekers to Turkey.