| Welcome to the weekend issue of Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Join us on Saturdays for deeper dives from our bureaus across Europe. VIENNA — Less than a month into its term, Austria's three-way coalition is under pressure to prove it can offer more purpose than just to keep the far right from power. A widening budget shortfall, a looming EU excessive deficit procedure, a likely third year of recession and an ailing industry call for swift action and deep changes in one of Europe's richest economies, which is showing signs of being past its prime. But conservative Chancellor Christian Stocker's alliance with the social democrats and the liberals is fraught with contradictions, and a hastily compiled government program serves as a thin foundation for much-needed reforms.  Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler, left, Christian Stocker, and Beate Meinl-Reisinger in Vienna, on March 18. Photographer: HANS KLAUS TECHT/AFP Take Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer, the Keynesian former chief economist of the Chamber of Labor, an umbrella organization connected with unions. The Social Democrat is tasked with finding as much as €12 billion of savings in the next weeks, more than double initial assumptions. Austria is a long-time budget hawk in the EU, and adhering to its fiscal rules is one of few substantive measures defined in the government program. But it comes just as neighboring Germany opens its purse to stimulus. Energetic Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger is shaking up Austria's diplomacy and trying to find the former imperial power's place in a changing global world order. Her liberal party has been the only political force to push for an overhaul of a decades-old military neutrality, but she will need to represent the still widely popular position that seems increasingly misaligned with a Europe contending with Russian aggression and US contempt. Stocker, a 65-year old lawyer and former small-town deputy mayor, has vowed to bring stability and order, perhaps not what's most needed for the People's Party that's still trying to find its footing after the ousting of political prodigy Sebastian Kurz, and with the Freedom Party's populist provocateur Herbert Kickl stealing voters. Agreeing on a forceful two-year budget by the summer would help quell the doubters, of which there are many. One prominent executive in Vienna recently told us he expects the government to last no longer than 12 to 18 months. — Marton Eder, Vienna bureau chief | 
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