Ex finance minister to challenge Merkel in 2013 vote

Germany's opposition Social Democrats Friday named Peer Steinbrueck, a feisty former finance minister, to challenge Angela Merkel in next year's vote for the head of Europe's powerhouse economy. "I will suggest Peer Steinbrueck as candidate for the position of federal chancellor in the federal election in 2013," party head Sigmar Gabriel said to applause at the Social Democratic Party (SPD) headquarters in Berlin. "This is a good day for the SPD. Peer Steinbrueck is, I am firmly convinced, not just the best candidate, but will he will be the right chancellor for our country," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the party's parliamentary leader. Steinbrueck, 65, served as finance minister during Merkel's first term as chancellor and the two worked closely together to overcome the financial crisis caused by the 2008 collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers. Steinbrueck beat off competition both from Gabriel and another SPD heavyweight Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who ran unsuccessfully against Merkel in 2009. However, the straight-talking style of the trained economist has ruffled feathers in the past, notably when he described the Swiss as "Indians" during a bitter tax row between the two neighbours. He also sparked outrage in Britain when he dismissed London's economic policy as "crass" and "breathtaking." Opinion polls show that he is considered the third-most significant politician in the country behind Merkel and current Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble but he has a lot of ground to make up if he is to become chancellor. Surveys show that the SPD is some 10 points behind Merkel's conservatives, with neither party's traditional coalition partners strong enough to form a government. This make a repetition of a "grand coalition" between the conservatives and the centre-left SPD the most likely result of the election, which has to be held in September or October 2013. "Steinbrueck is the best possible choice," political scientist Hans-Joachim Funke of the Free University of Berlin told AFP. "He has the benefit of dual skills in economic matters and on European affairs." "The best choice" headlined Der Spiegel newsweekly in its online edition. "Steinbrueck is burning, he is ready for the fight. With him, it's all or nothing." However, Merkel herself, nominated by Forbes Magazine as the world's most powerful woman, appeared unfazed by the prospect of facing the SPD's finest. Merkel's spokesman noted Friday that she had both worked "very closely" with Steinbrueck but was heading into the campaign with no preference over who was fighting in the opposition's corner. "She will go into an election campaign where she will make her conviction clear over what has been achieved under her chancellorship and her ideas for a bright German future," spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference. "And she has absolutely no preferences as to the opposing candidate," he added. While Merkel remains Germany's most popular politician, as the leader of Europe's effective paymaster, she has often been criticised for lacking a "vision" to lead the 17-nation eurozone out of its worst ever crisis. Steinbrueck, a Hamburg-born father-of-three, began his political career in the late 1970s under Helmut Schmidt's government.