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Now we know who's going to challenge Merkel in the federal election September 24th:
Martin Schulz (SPD) was nominated candidate for Chancellor last Sunday.
61 year old Schulz was mayor of the 40,000 inhabitants town of Würselen 1987-98 and member of the EU Parliament 1994-2017. 2004-2012, he was chairman of the Socialists & Democrats faction in the parliament, 2012-17 President of the EU Parliament.
Schulz will also take over the job of SPD chairman from Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), who held that position since 2009. This came as a surprise, as observers had expected Gabriel to run against Merkel -- Gabriel said he gave up both positions to Schulz because "he has a better chance of winning". This step was widely considered a very commendable step that speaks for the character of notoriously unpopular Gabriel.
Although Schulz is said to belong to the SPD's right wing, he is a novice to German domestic politics and has not yet taken positions on many domestic questions -- and he's frenetically loved the by left wing of the SPD, too. As he's not connected to the circle of politicians around former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who deeply shook the party with his controversial social reforms, he might be able to re-integrate the left wing of the party, like none other candidate before him could, in the past 12 years.
In the public, he enjoys a lot of support too, so far: Within 72 hours of Schulz's nomination, the SPD, which had been chronically weak for years, suddenly jumped by 3%-5% in polls, improved its public support by 9% and down from zero, an equal number of Germans want him as Chancellor compared to Merkel (41% would vote for each Merkel and Schulz, if the Chancellor was elected directly). 1300 people officially joined the SPD spontanously, in the days after Schulz's nomination. (The far-right AFD, on the other side, fell by 2% down to 11%-13%.)
Schulz may revive the SPD, which had lost half of its voters and a third of its members, since Chancellor Schröder (SPD) angered the left wing of the party with his controversial social reforms.
Other SPD politicians change their positions, too:
Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), who gives up the SPD chairmanship to Schulz, has been Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economy since 2013. He gives up the office of Minister for Economy and instead becomes new German Foreign Minister. He remains Vice Chancellor.
Gabriel had been Prime Minister of Lower Saxony 1999-2003, Federal Minister for Environment and Reactor Safety 2005-09, and SPD chairman since 2009. With 7.5 years as SPD chairman, he held this position longer than any other SPD politician in 30 years.
The office of Foreign Minister was vacant, since Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD)...
... was announced as candidate for Federal President. Since both center-right CDU/CSU and center-left SPD announced to vote for him in the Federal Assembly, it's pretty much certain that Steinmeier will follow Joachim Gauck as Federal President in two weeks.
Steinmeier had been Chancellor Schröder's (SPD) right hand as chief of staff 1999-2005, Federal Foreign Minister 2005-09 and again 2013-17. Additionally, he was Vice Chancellor 2007-09 and unsuccessful SPD candidate for Chancellor against Angela Merkel in 2009.
Observers in the media suggest that these changes make the September federal election interesting again: The outcome is anything but sure, as the SPD is back in the game.
Martin Schulz (SPD) was nominated candidate for Chancellor last Sunday.
61 year old Schulz was mayor of the 40,000 inhabitants town of Würselen 1987-98 and member of the EU Parliament 1994-2017. 2004-2012, he was chairman of the Socialists & Democrats faction in the parliament, 2012-17 President of the EU Parliament.
Schulz will also take over the job of SPD chairman from Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), who held that position since 2009. This came as a surprise, as observers had expected Gabriel to run against Merkel -- Gabriel said he gave up both positions to Schulz because "he has a better chance of winning". This step was widely considered a very commendable step that speaks for the character of notoriously unpopular Gabriel.
Although Schulz is said to belong to the SPD's right wing, he is a novice to German domestic politics and has not yet taken positions on many domestic questions -- and he's frenetically loved the by left wing of the SPD, too. As he's not connected to the circle of politicians around former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who deeply shook the party with his controversial social reforms, he might be able to re-integrate the left wing of the party, like none other candidate before him could, in the past 12 years.
In the public, he enjoys a lot of support too, so far: Within 72 hours of Schulz's nomination, the SPD, which had been chronically weak for years, suddenly jumped by 3%-5% in polls, improved its public support by 9% and down from zero, an equal number of Germans want him as Chancellor compared to Merkel (41% would vote for each Merkel and Schulz, if the Chancellor was elected directly). 1300 people officially joined the SPD spontanously, in the days after Schulz's nomination. (The far-right AFD, on the other side, fell by 2% down to 11%-13%.)
Schulz may revive the SPD, which had lost half of its voters and a third of its members, since Chancellor Schröder (SPD) angered the left wing of the party with his controversial social reforms.
Other SPD politicians change their positions, too:
Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), who gives up the SPD chairmanship to Schulz, has been Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economy since 2013. He gives up the office of Minister for Economy and instead becomes new German Foreign Minister. He remains Vice Chancellor.
Gabriel had been Prime Minister of Lower Saxony 1999-2003, Federal Minister for Environment and Reactor Safety 2005-09, and SPD chairman since 2009. With 7.5 years as SPD chairman, he held this position longer than any other SPD politician in 30 years.
The office of Foreign Minister was vacant, since Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD)...
... was announced as candidate for Federal President. Since both center-right CDU/CSU and center-left SPD announced to vote for him in the Federal Assembly, it's pretty much certain that Steinmeier will follow Joachim Gauck as Federal President in two weeks.
Steinmeier had been Chancellor Schröder's (SPD) right hand as chief of staff 1999-2005, Federal Foreign Minister 2005-09 and again 2013-17. Additionally, he was Vice Chancellor 2007-09 and unsuccessful SPD candidate for Chancellor against Angela Merkel in 2009.
Observers in the media suggest that these changes make the September federal election interesting again: The outcome is anything but sure, as the SPD is back in the game.
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