Germany elects ‘anti-Trump’ Steinmeier as new president
https://gistzzone.blogspot.com/2017/02/germany-elects-anti-trump-steinmeier-as.html
Billed as Germany’s “anti-Trump”, centre-left former foreign minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected Sunday as the new ceremonial head of
state. The 61-year-old, who regularly polls as Germany’s most popular
politician, will represent the EU’s top economy abroad and act as a kind
of moral arbiter for the nation. Frank-Walter Steinmeier His Social
Democrats (SPD) hope the appointment will boost their fortunes just as
their candidate Martin Schulz, the former European parliament president,
readies to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in September elections.
Steinmeier received 931 of 1,239 valid votes after Merkel’s
conservatives, lacking a strong candidate of their own, agreed to back
him to replace incumbent Joachim Gauck, 77, a former pastor from
ex-communist East Germany. The vote was held in Berlin’s glass-domed
Reichstag building by a special Federal Assembly, made up of national
lawmakers and electors sent from Germany’s 16 states — among them
deputies but also artists, writers, musicians and national football
coach Joachim Loew. With his snowy white hair, round glasses and dimpled
smile, Steinmeier is one of Germany’s best-known politicians, having
twice served as top diplomat under Merkel for a total of seven years.
Though the trained lawyer is usually measured in his speech, in the
thick of last year’s US election campaign Steinmeier labelled Donald
Trump a “hate preacher”. After the billionaire won the White House,
Steinmeier predicted relations would get “more difficult” and said his
staff were struggling to detect any “clear and coherent” foreign policy
positions from Trump. – ‘Antidote to populists’ – As Steinmeier has
prepared for the new post, which he assumes on March 19, he has vowed to
serve as a “counterweight to the trend of boundless simplification”,
calling this approach “the best antidote to thepopulists”. The Berliner
Morgenpost newspaper judged that Steinmeier looks set to be “the
anti-Trump president”. Steinmeier is only known to have lost his cool
once, in 2014, when he yelled at Berlin protesters who had accused him
of being a “warmonger” over his Ukraine policy. The outburst was so
unusual it became a minor YouTube hit. A policy wonk by nature,
Steinmeier served as advisor and then chief of staff to Merkel’s
predecessor, the SPD’s Gerhard Schroeder. In 2009, Steinmeier ran
against Merkel and lost badly, only to return years later to serve in
her cabinet. Political scientist Michael Broening of the SPD’s
think-tank the Friedrich Ebert Foundation said that “as foreign
minister, Steinmeier often acted as a voice of reason, bridging gaps and
bringing people together”. “It is hardly surprising that Steinmeier has
branded himself as the essential anti-Trump,” he added. Steinmeier is
well known in the world’s capitals, but his appointment worries some in
eastern Europe, who see him as too soft on Russian President Vladimir
Putin. He raised eyebrows with NATO partners last year when he
criticised a military exercise in Poland as “sabre rattling”. – ‘Changed
equation’ – Having Steinmeier move into the presidential Bellevue
Castle in Berlin has emboldened the SPD.
After years in the shadow of Merkel, the Social Democrats are smelling blood as the chancellor faces deep divisions within her own conservative camp, and the rise of the hard-right populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) after opening German borders to a million asylum-seekers since 2015. Since Schulz took over the candidacy in late January, the SPD has risen sharply in the opinion polls. It scored 32 percent — its highest in a decade and only one point behind Merkel’s conservatives — in an Emnid poll for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which asked in a headline: “Is this the beginning of the end of the Merkel era?” The election may still be more than seven months away, but the SPD finally hopes to have a realistic shot at toppling Merkel. “For Germany’s Social Democrats, Steinmeier’s election is a prelude to something bigger to come: a victory in September’s elections against Merkel,” said Broening. “While this seemed impossible only a few days ago, the recent rise in polls has changed the equation
After years in the shadow of Merkel, the Social Democrats are smelling blood as the chancellor faces deep divisions within her own conservative camp, and the rise of the hard-right populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) after opening German borders to a million asylum-seekers since 2015. Since Schulz took over the candidacy in late January, the SPD has risen sharply in the opinion polls. It scored 32 percent — its highest in a decade and only one point behind Merkel’s conservatives — in an Emnid poll for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which asked in a headline: “Is this the beginning of the end of the Merkel era?” The election may still be more than seven months away, but the SPD finally hopes to have a realistic shot at toppling Merkel. “For Germany’s Social Democrats, Steinmeier’s election is a prelude to something bigger to come: a victory in September’s elections against Merkel,” said Broening. “While this seemed impossible only a few days ago, the recent rise in polls has changed the equation