German Social Democratic leader (SPD) Martin Schulz resigned on Tuesday, hoping to end turbulence that has rocked the centre-left party since it agreed a coalition deal with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.
Mr Schulz’s deputy Olaf Scholz – the Hamburg mayor who is slated to become finance minister in the new government – said he would become caretaker SPD chairman, and the party confirmed that it had recommended parliamentary floor leader Andrea Nahles as Mr Schulz’s longer-term successor.
Amid deep rank-and-file divisions over the coalition deal and the distribution of ministerial posts, and facing a slump in opinion polls, SPD leaders are trying to convince 464,000 party members to endorse the accord with Ms Merkel in a ballot on which her fourth term depends.
With many SPD members harbouring misgivings about sharing power with Ms Merkel again, the result of the vote, due on March 4, is wide open. If members reject the coalition pact, a new German election looks the most likely option.
Mr Schulz said an extraordinary party congress would be held in the western city of Wiesbaden on April 22 to pick a new leader.
Ms Nahles, a plain-speaking 47-year-old former labour minister with a left-wing slant and strong oratory skills, is the frontrunner and would become the first female leader in the party’s 154-year history.
“With his decision to resign today, [Schulz] paved the way for a new beginning,” Ms Nahles said.
Mr Schulz said last week he would quit to allow the party to regroup and he recommended Ms Nahles as leader. But expectations that she would take over with immediate effect on a caretaker basis until a party conference triggered resistance as it breached party procedure.
On Tuesday, Mr Schulz said he hoped his decision to resign would result in party members focusing on the coalition treaty rather than personnel issues.
He said he hoped the party could “regain its former strength” under Ms Nahles’ leadership and as part of the German government – if members agreed to that in the upcoming ballot.
“If I can contribute to that by resigning, it will have been worth it,” he said outside the SPD headquarters.
Two sources in the SPD leadership said the party decided not to make Ms Nahles a caretaker leader because it did not want to pre-empt a vote at the party congress and so possibly influence the members’ vote on a coalition.
Kevin Kuehnert, who leads the SPD’s youth wing and is campaigning for members to vote against another tie-up with Ms Merkel, welcomed the decision as he said it would enable the party to focus completely on the members’ coalition ballot.
Ms Nahles said she would start campaigning at the weekend for members to vote ‘yes’ to a coalition with Ms Merkel, who has led the European Union’s most populous country and economic powerhouse since 2005.
In a cartoon on Tuesday, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily showed Ms Nahles with a whip riding an SPD snail.
Mr Schulz, 62, ditched plans to take the post of foreign minister after fierce criticism from some former allies, not least because he had pledged not to serve in a cabinet with Ms Merkel.
That leaves open who from within the SPD may take up that post. Media have speculated that one option might be Katarina Barley, a former SPD general secretary and family minister, or SPD veteran Thomas Oppermann.
Germany has been without a formal government since the September 24 election and investors are worried about a delay in policymaking, both at home and in the EU.
The turmoil in the SPD can only distract from criticism of Ms Merkel from within her own party after she handed the foreign and finance ministries to the SPD to secure the coalition deal.
An INSA poll published on Tuesday showed the SPD at a record low of 16.5 percent, only 1.5 percentage points ahead of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Ms Merkel’s conservative bloc was also down 1 point at 29.5 percent.
Under Mr Schulz, a former European Parliament president who became SPD leader just over a year ago, the party garnered 20.5 percent in September’s election, its worst result in the post-war era.
The SPD originally wanted to reinvent itself in opposition but reconsidered when Ms Merkel’s attempt to form an alliance with two smaller parties failed late last year.
Semi-final fixtures
Portugal v Chile, 7pm, today
Germany v Mexico, 7pm, tomorrow
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The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
