section_path: Political career/Chancellor of Austria
section_name: Chancellor of Austria
paragraph_text: Chancellor of Austria
  
  In October 2021, Sebastian Kurz resigned as chancellor in the wake of a corruption investigation and was succeeded by Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. Kurz remained as leader of the ÖVP until 2 December, when he announced his retirement from politics. Soon afterwards, Schallenberg announced he would not seek the leadership and would resign as chancellor in favour of the new ÖVP leader once one had been elected. On 3 December, Nehammer was provisionally appointed as leader of the ÖVP by the federal party committee and proposed as chancellor. He was sworn in by President Alexander Van der Bellen on 6 December. In an extraordinary party convention on 14 May 2022, Nehammer was elected ÖVP chairman by 100% of the votes.
  
  During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nehammer visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on 9 April 2022, and then Moscow, where he met Russian president Vladimir Putin on 12 April 2022. Nehammer said he confronted Putin about Russia's war crimes in Ukraine and told him "it’s necessary to have international justice, the United Nations there." After the meeting, Nehammer warned that Putin was planning a new offensive in eastern Ukraine.
  
  Under Nehammer's leadership, Austria's government implemented a package of measures worth six billion euros ($6.3 billion) in 2022 aimed at cushioning the blow to households of the rising cost of living.
  
  On 8 December 2022 Nehammer was the architect of the sole veto against Bulgaria 's and Romania 's admission in the Schengen Area on 1 January the following year. This caused an outrage in Romania, who drastically reduced bilateral relations with Austria as a result. As of November 2024, neither Bulgaria or Romania is fully part of the Schengen Area.
  
  In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt in September 2023, Nehammer called for the termination of full membership negotiations between the EU and Turkey and the development of a new concept within the relations between the EU and Turkey.
  
  Nehammer expressed support for Israel during the Gaza war. In October 2023, he rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that "All the fantasies of truces, ceasefires, etc. have the effect of strengthening Hamas in its determination to continue its action and perpetuate this terrible terror." In January 2024, he criticized South Africa's genocide case against Israel.
  
  In the 2024 Austrian legislative election held on 29 September, the ÖVP placed second to the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which gained a plurality of seats in the National Council. However, no party in parliament agreed to form a coalition with the FPÖ, which led to Nehammer being asked by President Van der Bellen to form a new government on 22 October.
  
  On 4 January 2025, Nehammer said that he would step down as party leader and as chancellor, following the failure of the government coalition talks between his party, SPÖ, and NEOS after the 2024 legislative election.