NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum () is a liberal political party in Austria. It was founded as NEOS – The New Austria in 2012. In 2014, NEOS merged with Liberal Forum and adopted its current name.
Since 2018, NEOS's chairwoman and parliamentary leader has been Beate Meinl-Reisinger. It is the smallest party in the National Council with 15 seats, and won 8.3% in the 2019 legislative election. NEOS is represented in six of Austria's nine Landtage, and is involved in government in Vienna. NEOS is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and its one MEP sits with the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament.
History
NEOS – The New Austria held its founding convention on 27 October 2012. Political advisor Matthias Strolz was elected chairman with 96.2% of votes. He stated the party would "counter stagnation and corruption in Austrian politics", and that it was an alternative for moderate voters disillusioned with the ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). He stated the party's goal for the next federal election was to win over 10% of votes. Upon its foundation, the party claimed a membership of 350. In January 2013, it reportedly had over 1,000 members.
2013 legislative election
In March 2013, NEOS formed an alliance with the Liberal Forum and JuLis – Young Liberals Austria, operating under the NEOS brand. In April, the party conducted its first public primaries to determine its federal list for the upcoming election. Voters were divided into three groups – the general public, the party board, and NEOS members – and each group's votes were weighted equally. There were 64 candidates, who were not required to be NEOS members. 1,561 people voted in the primaries. The final composition of the NEOS federal list was announced on 1 May 2013.
On 13 July, NEOS announced it had gathered 3,100 signatures for the upcoming election, exceeding the 2,600 required to appear on ballots nationwide. On 5 September, industrialist, former Liberal Forum politician, and NEOS financier Hans Peter Haselsteiner began campaigning for the party.
In the 29 September legislative election, NEOS competed under the name "NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum", with the short name "NEOS". The list won 4.96% of votes cast and nine seats, becoming the smallest of six parties in the National Council.
Merger with the Liberal Forum
After their success in the 2013 election, NEOS and Liberal Forum agreed to merge into a single party. The merger was approved at a joint conference on 25 January 2014, where Strolz was re-elected chairman with 98.7% of votes. Liberal Forum leader Angelika Mlinar and NEOS leader in Vienna Beate Meinl-Reisinger were elected as deputy leaders. The united party officially adopted the name "NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum". On 22 March, JuLis – Young Liberals Austria voted 98.7% in favour of merging into NEOS. It was renamed to "JUNOS – Young liberal NEOS", and became NEOS's youth wing.
NEOS performed well in municipal elections in Salzburg on 9 March 2014. The party won 12.4% of votes in the city of Salzburg, placing fourth and securing five seats on the council.
As with the 2013 federal election, NEOS held open primaries to determine its candidates for the 2014 European elections. On 15 February, deputy party chairwoman Angelika Mlinar was elected as the top candidate. Ahead of the elections, NEOS became a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. NEOS carried out a strongly pro-European campaign for the election, with the slogan "I love Europe". In the election on 25 May, NEOS won 8.14% of votes and one of Austria's 18 seats. Though a significant improvement on the 2013 federal election, this result was below expectations, as polling had indicated NEOS would exceed 10%. After the election, Milnar joined the ALDE group in the European Parliament.
In December 2013, NEOS announced its intention to run in the 2014 Vorarlberg state election. As the home state of chairman Strolz, NEOS was considered to have strong potential there. In the lead-up to the election, the procedure for the open primaries was modified due to a security issue which allowed two ex-members to vote multiple times in the online component of the primaries. The state election took place on 13 October, and NEOS achieved a disappointing result of 6.89% and two seats. This deprived NEOS of parliamentary group status in the Vorarlberg Landtag, which requires three seats.