BERLIN — Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Social Democrat foreign minister, was poised to become Germany’s next president after Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc dropped its resistance to his candidacy early Monday.
The decision clears the way for Steinmeier, a career politician who has served in a variety of senior government positions, to succeed incumbent President Joachim Gauck when his term ends in March.
Merkel originally rejected Steinmeier, in the hopes of finding a candidate without a partisan bias, but that effort failed despite months of searching and talks with the SPD. Once it became clear that the SPD would field Steinmeier — Germany’s most …read more
Source: European Voice
