Former EU leader to face off against Merkel in election
AFP
news@thelocal.de
25 January 2017
09:07 CET+01:00
Photo: DPA
After years spent honing his political skills in Brussels, former EU parliament head Martin Schulz has returned home to enter the race for Germany's top job, seen as the only man popular enough to challenge Angela Merkel.
In a surprise move, Social Democrats' leader Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday said he was standing aside so the 61-year-old Schulz could replace him as chairman of the SPD and run as its candidate for chancellor.
The former bookseller - once likened to a Nazi camp supervisor by Silvio Berlusconi - had only announced two months ago that he was stepping down as head of the EU's only elected body to return to politics in his native country.
https://www.thelocal.de/20170125/former-eu-leader-to-face-off-against-merkel-in-election
