The conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), led by Sebastian Kurz, and the Greens reached a deal to form a coalition government, the two parties announced late Wednesday, Eurasia Diary reports citing Deutsche Welle.
The "experiment," as the daily Kurier put it, will mark the first time the left-wing environmentalist Green party has been in government. The new coalition of widely disparate parties is likely to be significantly different from the previous government, which took a hard line on immigration.
"We have succeeded to unite the best of both worlds," said Kurz on Wednesday. "It is possible to protect the climate and borders."
Greens leader Werner Kogler said the two parties had managed to "build bridges" to form a government for "the future of Austria."
A coalition between the 33-year-old Kurz's ÖVP and the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) collapsed in May after 17 months amid a corruption scandal involving then-leader of the FPÖ and vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache.
The so-called "Ibiza-gate" scandal — involving a video showing Strache offering favors to a fake Russian investor — triggered elections in September, in which disgruntled voters fled from the FPÖ and handed 37.5% of the votes to the ÖVP.
The Greens captured 13.9%, a record high for the environmentalists, as the environment and climate change replaced immigration as a top issue for voters.