Coalition talks collapse, Austrian Prime Minister says he will resign in the coming days

VIENNA/BRUSSELS — Austria's coalition talks, once again, have imploded.

It is a story we've heard before, but with some important differences.

Local time 4: Chancellor Karl Nehammer has announced that coalition talks in Austria have failed to produce an agreement on the "core issues." He said he will not be able to continue in his current position and will step down over the coming days. President Van der Bellen has already been informed.

It's been a familiar storyline here: Last September 29, Austria held its general election; the far-right Freedom Party won the most votes – its first victory in its entire 38-year history – and became the largest party. The current government and chancellor's party, the center-right People's Party (ÖVP), came in second.

The chancellor then formed a three-party coalition together with the center-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) – which had a dismal election, coming third — and the Greens. Since that election, both the center-right people's party and the center-left social democrats have insisted that they will never again be part of a coalition with the far right.

So what happens from here? First things first, the chancellor's mandate expires on March 3, and now no political agreement is in place to determine what comes next. Here are a few questions — and some potential answers — on what will happen in Austria over the next days, and possibly weeks and months.

Who will step in if there is no formal replacement? Austria is unique in that it requires a coalition agreement before there can be an official change in leadership. If no deal emerges, then the chancellor remains in place as the country's leader. This situation is unique in the EU and was the source of the country's famous yearlong government formation ordeal in 2013.

Could Austria be headed for a new election or a fresh government formation process? Yes, but that would most likely only come after the current chancellor is formally replaced with a caretaker figure. That will probably come in the form of Austria's Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, whose powers include appointing the chancellor.

But how does Van der Bellen get the job done? Austria is not in imminent danger of a new election, as it is still not clear what course of action the president will choose. There are various options at his disposal, including the ability to dissolve the National Council (parliament), call new parliamentary elections, and even appoint a government himself, although those powers are rarely used.

Is Van der Bellen the president of all Austrians? Probably. He has indicated on social media that "a new beginning" is needed. It remains to be seen, however, whether this is a call for a new parliamentary formation process involving a larger set of parties or if it's a step toward a snap election. The mood music seems to suggest the latter for now.

Who can Van der Bellen turn to as the next chancellor? It has to be one of the parliament's current party leaders, and in light of Nehammer's pledge not to run for a second term and the failure of the previous talks, it seems most likely that he would name a different figure.

It has been reported that Alexander Schallenberg, currently Austria's Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Defense, may be considered for the chancellor role. However, this seems unlikely, given his position as a rival to Nehammer within the same party in their bid to lead the ÖVP in its upcoming leadership conference in March. The next government would then be formed by either party leaders who were part of earlier failed coalition talks or by leaders of parties that opposed or refrained from entering negotiations.

And in the end, why does any of this matter? Austria finds itself in a precarious political juncture, with no clear alternative to the current impasse in parliament.

As I was heading from Belgium to Vienna to report on this story, Schallenberg's predecessor, Hubert Kosel, remarked, in a moment of prescient wisdom: "Only losers give up at the moment of failure."

But what if no agreement can be reached?

At the heart of the coalition talks failure is a bitter fight between rival figures from the same political party. Nehammer, the outgoing chancellor, and Schallenberg, his potential replacement, have repeatedly clashed over policy and direction for the country, culminating now in another collapse of negotiations. Both men will most likely remain in contention to lead either their party or the wider country.

So, where does this all lead? There's an expression in Austrian politics – "nach unten kein Grund" — which roughly translates to "there is no ground beneath us." In the world of politics, this could mean falling quite far.