Germany's Schulz drops bid for foreign minister job
February 9, 2018
SPD head Martin Schulz has abandoned his bid to serve as Germany's foreign minister. Schulz said he hopes his decision will prevent SPD party members from rejecting a coalition deal with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: Reuters/H. Hanschke
Advertisement
The current head of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), Martin Schulz, said on Friday that he would no longer pursue a ministerial post in the next German government, including the job of foreign minister. Schulz had come under heavy criticism in his own party for claiming the foreign minister role for himself after leaders of Germany's largest parties agreed to form another coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Therefore, I hereby declare that I am giving up joining the federal government and at the same time express the hope that this will end the personnel debate within the SPD, Schulz announced on Friday.
"My own personal ambitions must be placed behind the interests of the party," he said in a statement.
Schulz, the former president of the European Parliament, said he believed the internal squabble within his party risked jeopardizing a pending coalition deal with Merkel's conservatives. The SPD reached a deal with Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), on Wednesday.
The coalition deal still requires the approval of SPD party members, who will vote on the deal in the coming weeks and can still reject it. Former Labor Minister Andrea Nahles is reportedly set to take over from Schulz after the SPD member vote and would become the first woman to head Germany's Social Democrats.
Merkel's cabinet takes shape - who's in and out at Germany's ministries
Reaching agreement on who should run particular ministries is one of the headaches that make coalition talks so long and torturous. Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats have had to make considerable concessions.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Shifting responsibilities
There are five "classic ministries" in Germany's government – Finance, Foreign, Interior, Justice and Defense. Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) are ceding direct control of two of them. One, finance, is to change from right to left of the political divide, moving from CDU to Social Democrat (SPD) hands. Other switches are likely in less prominent portfolios.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Major prize changes hands
The transfer of the Finance Ministry from CDU hands to the SPD is the biggest surprise of the deal. The minister plays a major role at the European level as evidenced by the CDU’s Wolfgang Schäuble during the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz, a centrist within the SPD, will likely get the title of deputy chancellor in addition to finance minister.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
Bavaria to take home ministry
The Interior Ministry, which deals with law and order within Germany, looks set to stay in the hands of Merkel’s conservatives, but not her own CDU. Touted for the position is the leader of Bavarian sister party the CSU, Horst Seehofer (left). The Bavarian party has taken a tougher line than Merkel on immigration. The conservatives suffered losses to the far-right AfD in September's election.
Image: Reuters/M. Rehle
Who will be Germany's top diplomat?
Under the deal, the SPD will keep control of the Foreign Ministry. Since 1966, the ministry has been run by a member of smaller coalition partners. Sigmar Gabriel has been in the role in a caretaker capacity since Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected president. Martin Schulz (above), a former leader of the European Parliament, was expected to take over but pulled out in a bid to quell party unrest.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/O. Andersen
Growing profile of defense
The CDU’s Ursula von der Leyen, a key ally of Merkel who is thought to have her own ambitions to become chancellor, is likely to remain in her role at the helm of the Defense Ministry. The ministry has had a growing importance in recent decades as Germany became more involved in foreign military operations. In particular, the Bundeswehr maintains a significant deployment of troops in Afghanistan.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/J. Macdougall
Justice unlikely to change hands
Typically a portfolio that goes to the junior coalition partner, responsibility for the Justice Ministry may well stay with the current incumbent — the SPD’s Heiko Maas. While individual states in Germany are generally responsible for the administration of justice, the federal ministry is charged with making and changing constitution-related laws. It also analyzes laws made by other ministries.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Economic compensation
Helping to make up for the CDU losing two major offices, the CDU will get its hands on the Economy Ministry, also responsible for energy policy. Merkel's right hand in the chancellery Peter Altmaier (pictured) — who has also been running the Finance Ministry since the departure of Wolfgang Schäuble — is expected to take over from the SPD's Brigitte Zypries.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini
New girl on the block
The favorite to take over at the top of the Ministry of Agriculture is the CDU’s Julia Klöckner, who leads the party in the western state of Rhineland Palatinate. Having twice failed in her bid to become state premier there, she'll be one of the relatively rare new faces in Berlin.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer
Change of track
The CSU will also retain the Transport Ministry with CSU Secretary-General Andreas Scheuer, from Lower Bavaria, taking charge. He’d also be responsible for digital infrastructure. The party will hold onto the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, with undersecretary in the Transport Ministry Dorothee Bär set to take the reins from current Development Minister Gerd Müller.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Vennenbernd
Health in same party hands
The Health Ministry remains a CDU concern, with Annette Widmann-Mauz, an undersecretary in the ministry from Baden Württemberg, expected to take over. She’d replace fellow CDU member Hermann Gröhe, who is touted to head up the Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Pleul
10 images1 | 10
Pressure from SPD
His announcement follows days of mounting pressure from senior members of his party, including from current Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who criticized Schulz's intention to take the helm at the Foreign Ministry.
In an interview published on Friday, Gabriel complained about a lack of appreciation for his work as Germany's top diplomat, saying that he had been praised by the wider public.
"It is clear, unfortunately, that the public's regard for my work meant absolutely nothing to the new SPD leadership," Gabriel said in the interview with the Funke media group newspapers.
Directly after the September election, Schulz ruled out forming a new coalition with Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc and had categorically ruled out joining her Cabinet in the past. The backtracking by SPD leaders angered many in the party's youth branch, the Jusos, who have opposed another grand coalition with Merkel.
Senior SPD members, including current Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, criticized Schulz for intending to take the postImage: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
'Won't help the SPD much'
Following Schulz's decision, his likely SPD successor Nahles said she had "the greatest respect and recognition" for his decision.
Although the SPD appeared to welcome his move, other German parties seemed perplexed by it.
"It would have been better if Schulz had reached this correct decision by himself and not under pressure — but this step won't help the SPD much," Sahra Wagenknecht, who heads the Left party's parliamentary group, told news agency dpa.
A similar assessment came from the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), whose decision to break off preliminary coalition talks with Merkel's conservatives and the Green party had thrust the reluctant SPD into talks with Merkel.
Schulz previously ruled out entering into another coalition with Merkel and having a post in her CabinetImage: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
"The new grand coalition is dismantling itself before it's even in office," Marco Buschmann, the FDP's parliamentary group manager, told dpa, adding that the conservatives and the SPD are "obviously only concerned about posts and not about our country."
At an SPD convention one year ago, Schulz was unanimously elected to head the party. After initially surging in polls, the SPD dropped in the polls and suffered several major state election losses ahead of last year's general election.
The September 24 election saw the SPD suffer its worst postwar electoral result, garnering just 20.5 percent of the vote.
