Martin Schulz, the new face from the left to challenge Merkel

published 27 January 2017

17-1-26-Schulz-1200 — Martin Schulz is more familiar with European than domestic politics

Martin Schulz, head of the European Parliament, is to stand as candidate for chancellor for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in Germany's elections this autumn, running against the incumbent Angela Merkel. "Running for chancellor will be a big change" for Schulz, says Guy Chazan in the FT.

He has "spent most of his life in European rather than domestic politics" and "is still relatively unknown inside Germany". Still, Germany "has had the same chancellor for 11 years and is hungry for new faces". He is also "one of the bloc's best-connected politicians" and "enjoys much higher approval ratings" than the current SPD leader, Sigmar Gabriel.

Schulz faces a "daunting job", says online magazine Politico. "The SPD is way behind in the polls." However, the SPD could try to outflank Merkel "on the left by building a Red-Red-Green' governing coalition with the Greens and the Left party". In any case, his diplomatic skills mean that even if "the SPD is condemned to another four years playing junior partner to Merkel's conservatives, Schulz's Brussels years show he can flourish in a grand coalition'".

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"Given his fanatical hatred for Brexiteers and all attempts by Britain to reform the EU, anyone hoping for a smooth Brexit should hope he ends up nowhere near power," says Asa Bennett in The Daily Telegraph. While Gabriel "talks calmly about Britain's departure from the EU", Schulz "likes to threaten the hardest Brexit possible' in revenge". As chancellor he would "drag Europe's largest economy further away from Britain", but even as Merkel's senior coalition partner he would "make sure she gives Britain a hefty kick on the way out".

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri