VIENNA (AP) — Austria’s new government took office on Monday, with Christian Stocker taking over as chancellor at the head of a previously untried three-party coalition after a record five-month wait for a new administration.
The new government will have to deal with rising unemployment, a recession and a creaking budget. Its coalition agreement, reached on Thursday after the longest negotiations in post-World War II Austria, foresees strict new asylum rules in the European Union country of 9 million people.
“I stand in front of you today with great respect for the tasks that await, and I am very well aware of the great responsibility that comes with these tasks,”
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