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German President Steinmeier moves closer to second term

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is poised to be elected for a second five-year term in the largely ceremonial role as he secured the backing of the ruling Green party on Tuesday.

Published: 4 January 2022 12:48 CET
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/AP Pool | Michael Sohn

First appointed president in 2017, Social Democrat (SPD) Steinmeier, 65, last year said he would like to run again when Germany elects its next president on February 13th.

The Greens, who are part of a new three-way coalition government with the SPD and the liberal FDP, said in a statement they would be recommending that their MPs vote for him.

Steinmeier is a “very good and highly respected federal president who has rendered great service to our country during his first term”, they said.

The FDP has also said it will back Steinmeier.

The office of president is a symbolic role in Germany providing a counterpart to the head of government, currently Chancellor Olaf Scholz, also a Social Democrat.

One of Germany’s most popular and trusted politicians, Steinmeier was appointed as head of state after extended stints as foreign minister and chief of staff for former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

With his snowy white hair, round glasses and dimpled smile, Steinmeier is a trained lawyer with a reputation for being diplomatic and measured in his speech.

Announcing his desire to run for a second term last year, Steinmeier said being president had been an “honour” and an “enormous challenge”.

Presidents can run for a maximum of two terms in Germany, though Steinmeier would be only the fourth person to be re-elected to the role.

READ ALSO: ‘Germany is a country with a migrant background,’ says President Steinmeier

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POLITICS

‘Dexit’ would cost Germany 690 billion euros and millions of jobs: economists

According to the German Economic Institute (IW), Germany's exit from the EU – the so-called Dexit – would cost millions of jobs and significantly reduce the country's prosperity.

Published: 19 May 2024 18:04 CEST
'Dexit' would cost Germany 690 billion euros and millions of jobs: economists

In a study presented by the Cologne-based institute on Sunday, the authors showed that a Dexit would cause real GDP to drop by 5.6 percent after just five years. This means that Germany would lose 690 billion euros in value creation during this time.

In addition, Germany as an export nation is dependent on trade with other countries, especially with other EU countries, warned the authors. Companies and consumers in Germany would therefore feel the consequences “clearly” and around 2.5 million jobs would be lost.

The study is based on the consequences of Britain’s exit from the EU, such as the loss of trade agreements and European workers.

Taken together, the losses in economic output in Germany in the event of a Dexit would be similar to those seen during Covid-19 and the energy cost crisis in the period from 2020 to 2023, the authors warned.

Brexit is therefore “not an undertaking worth imitating,” warned IW managing director Hubertus Bardt. Rather, Brexit is a “warning for other member states not to carelessly abandon economic integration.”

Leader of the far-right AfD party Alice Weidel described Great Britain’s exit from the European Union at the beginning of the year as a “model for Germany.”

In an interview published in the Financial Times, Weidel outlined her party’s approach in the event her party came to power: First, the AfD would try to resolve its “democratic deficit” by reforming the EU. If this was not successful, a referendum would be called on whether Germany should remain in the EU.

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