Berlin
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder quit this week as head of the Social Democrats, saying he needed to concentrate on running the country and not on party politics. Considerable dissent has broken out within party ranks over Schröder’s proposals to cut social benefits and rein in spending. The opposition conservatives said the move showed Schröder had failed to persuade even his own party of the need for reforms. The chancellor narrowly won re-election in September 2002, on a platform of opposition to the Iraq war, but has been embattled ever since. Opposition leader Angela Merkel said his resignation marked a “loss of authority” and “the beginning of the end of this chancellor.”
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