Representatives of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Social Democrats (SPÖ) met in the nation's chancellery for talks on Saturday after the failure of their discussions with a further party for a three-way coalition.

Austria's conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Saturday he would step down in the "coming days" after breaking off coalition talks with the Social Democrats over disagreements on key issues. "After the break-off of the coalition talks I am going to do the following: I will step down both as chancellor and party chairman of the People's Party in the coming days and enable an orderly transition,