The first hurdle has been cleared, now they are negotiating the details: On Thursday, negotiators from the right-wing populist FPÖ met with those from the conservative ÖVP in the tax and finance subgroup. With their austerity plan, the two parties were able to avert an EU deficit procedure, but they have tied Austria into a tight corset: EUR 6.4 billion must be saved in the current year. Over the next seven years, a total of EUR 18 billion is to be saved in order to comply with EU fiscal rules. Without raising taxes, as both parties had promised their voters.