Austria's new coalition government will not hold a referendum on the country's membership of the European Union, incoming vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache of the eurosceptic far-right Freedom Party said Saturday.

"We stand by the EU," Strache told reporters as he and future chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the conservative People's Party (OeVP) unveiled their joint programme. "But that doesn't mean that we cannot be critical of the EU