Sebastian Kurz, who leads the People’s party, can now return to power with small majority

Austria’s main centre-right party and the Greens have agreed on a coalition deal that will return ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz to power.

Both Kurz and Werner Kogler from the Greens, who led the negotiations between the two parties, told reporters in Vienna they had hammered out a government programme that would be presented to the public in detail on Thursday afternoon.

“These were demanding negotiations, but the result is a very good one,” Kurz said. “Both us and the Greens will be able to honour the central election promises we made.”

Kogler agreed, saying: “It wasn’t easy, but that’s also not what we were elected for.”

The two will become chancellor and vice-chancellor of the new government, and the Greens will control just four of 15 ministries, roughly reflecting their performance in the 29 September election, which Kurz’s People’s party (OVP) won with 37.5% of the vote, while the Greens came in fourth with 13.9%.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sebastian Kurz and Werner Kogler will become chancellor and vice-chancellor of the new government. Photograph: Lisi Niesner/Reuters

“It is possible to reduce the tax burden and to ecologise the tax system,” Kurz said, referring to the core campaign pledges of both parties and hinting at the deal’s contents. The Greens said they wanted an investment package in environmental measures and to make products that damage the environment more expensive.

The 33-year-old Kurz’s People’s party embarked on negotiations with the Greens in mid-November, weeks after it emerged as by far the biggest party from the election. In the vote in September, the Greens, who had not previously been part of a federal government in Austria, saw their support soar and returned to parliament after a two-year absence.

The two parties have a combined 97 seats in Austria’s 183-seat parliament. Kurz’s return to power would mean him taking back the title of the world’s youngest sitting head of government from the new Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, who is 34. If the Green party’s delegates formally approve the coalition deal at their party convention on Saturday, the new government could be sworn in as early as next week.

Kurz led a coalition with the Freedom party for 17 months until May, when a video showing then Freedom party leader Heinz-Christian Strache offering favours to a purported Russian investor prompted Kurz to pull the plug.

Parliament then ousted Kurz in a no-confidence vote. Austria has since been run by a nonpartisan interim government under Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein.

The Freedom party said after the election, in which it suffered significant losses, that it preferred to go into opposition to rebuild itself.