Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives agreed on Monday to back Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Germany’s next president, creating a vacancy at the foreign ministry at a critical moment in relations with Russia and the United States. Merkel’s camp had hoped to promote its own candidate but chose to back political rival Steinmeier for the largely ceremonial post to avoid a long fight with his party, its partner in the ruling ‘grand coalition’.
Steinmeier, who called Republican Donald Trump a “preacher of hate” before the US election, said on Monday he hoped the president-elect would change course upon entering office and recognise …read more
Source: Daily News & Analysis
