POLITICS | 15.05.2011

Former finance minister may challenge Merkel in 2013

 

Steinbrück gained popularity during the economic crisis

In surprise move, former German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück said he might seek his opposition Social Democratic Party's nomination to run against conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel in elections in 2013.

 

Former German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück told German radio on Saturday that he was ready to discuss representing the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) in the 2013 election for German chancellor.

Steinbrück gained a reputation as a no-nonsense finance minister during the worst of the global economic crisis, though of late he's kept a low profile since the SPD was relegated to the opposition in 2009.

In an interview with HR radio, the 64-year-old confirmed that before anything happens, the debate has to be handled internally.

Timing is everything

"The time will come when I'll sit down and talk to two or three SPD party leaders about that," he said in the radio interview. "But that time has not yet come today."

As he is not the chairman of the SPD, it would be up to the person in that role, Sigmar Gabriel, to decide on who would actually become the candidate.

Cicero, an influential German magazine, recently published a cover story "Wer, wenn nicht Peer?" (Who else but Peer?) about Steinbrück, along with a Forsa institute poll that showed the former finance minister was actually more popular than Gabriel.

"If you decide to run for something, you need to bring full force and more than 100 percent," Steinbrück said. "So if you want to win, you have to want it with every fiber of your body."

Author: Stuart Tiffen
Editor: Toma Tasovac

 

 

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