GERMANY: Kurt Beck, the new hope of Germany's SPD, is riding high. Last month he put in a barnstorming performance, returning to power with an absolute majority in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The burly, bearded 57-year-old is a trained electrician from a working-class background and viewed as a born Social Democrat with the common touch, the last in the Willy Brandt tradition.
"He's pragmatic like Schröder but more predictable, more stable and even a little more conservative," said Kai Arzheimer, political scientist at the University of Mainz. He suggests that, as the fourth leader in two years, Mr Beck will be more interested in stabilising the SPD than reinventing it.
"He has little interest in a revolutionary programme," said Dr Arzheimer. "He's similar to Schröder when he said there is no left or right politics, just successful politics." Mr Beck won the recent state election thanks to a demonstrable interest in social themes, such as a demand for a minimum wage. Yesterday he promised continuity with Mr Platzeck's politics."The SPD can't be lead with a harmony strategy as Platzeck tried, it needs a leader personality," said Niels Diederich, political researcher at Berlin's Free University. "Kurt Beck is such a personality."
