Abstract
Never before in the history of South Tyrol have the coalition negotiations following the regional elections been so closely followed in the public eye as those of 22 October 2023. Never before have the coalition negotiations been accompanied by a sustained protest from civil society. Never before has there been a coalition of five parties seeking to form government in South Tyrol. Never before has there been a second German party in the provincial government apart from the South Tyrolean People’s Party (SVP). And never before has a party participated in the government in South Tyrol that stands in the historical and personal continuity of neo-fascist parties and has never explicitly distanced itself from fascism. This is based on the assumption that the SVP wanted to utilise the “window of opportunity“ that the government in Rome offered it by securing and expanding autonomy. Under these conditions, the SVP did not orientate itself on political and ideological attitudes and entered into a “pact with the devil”.