The announcement was a victory for mainstream political parties, after earlier talks involving the hard-right Freedom Party broke down.

The executive boards of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) announced on Friday that they had unanimously agreed a government programme and members of a future cabinet.

Three parties reached a deal on Thursday to form a new centrist Austrian government, two weeks after a far-right party that won an election in September failed to put together an administration.