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.
Wednesday's statement came after conservative Karl Nehammer said over the weekend he would step down as chancellor and party chairman.
Nehammer made the decision on Saturday, after the collapse of coalition talks to form a government excluding the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ).
The FPÖ topped September polls for the first time ever in the Alpine EU member of nine million but has until now been unable to find partners to govern.
On Tuesday, however, radical far-right leader Herbert Kickl invited the conservatives to start negotiations, which they accepted.
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Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of the Greens, will appoint Schallenberg to the interim role on Friday.
Schallenberg's role will be "to continue the administration of the Federal Chancellery and to chair the interim Federal Government", said a statement from the president's office.
But while he takes over the chancellor's agenda, Schallenberg will continue in his post as foreign minister.
The 55-year-old, a long-time member of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), has already served as chancellor in late 2021. But that was for less than two months after charismatic conservative leader Sebastian Kurz resigned following corruption allegations.
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During that previous tenure, Schallenberg introduced mandatory COVID-19 vaccination and measures to confine those not vaccinated.
The mandatory vaccination law, although never enforced, caused outrage, fuelling a rise in the popularity of the far right, which strongly opposed the legislation and other restrictions during the pandemic.
Schallenberg, who studied law, is a divorced father of four from an aristocratic background. He was born in Switzerland as the son of an Austrian diplomat.
He joined Austria's diplomatic service in 1997, his five languages helping him navigate various postings, including in Brussels.
After returning to Vienna, he became an adviser to successive ÖVP foreign ministers, including Kurz, before himself becoming foreign minister in 2019.
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