BERLIN - Andrea Nahles said she will resign as the leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD). It comes a week after the establishment parties took a big hit, losing the combined majority in the EU elections.
Nahles announced that she will step as down as SPD leader and the head of its group in the national parliament on Tuesday.
Writing in a farewell letter to her colleagues, she said that she does not believe there is enough support for herself anymore.
The discussions… and the large amount of feedback from the party have shown me that there is no longer support for me in holding these offices.
The Social Democrats have been longtime coalition partners with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with which they have formed ruling governments.
Chosen as party chief a year ago, Nahles led the SPD during the European Parliament elections in late May. The results were utterly disappointing for centrist parties across the continent, as the pro-European bloc EPP and the Social Democratic alliance S&D (which Germany’s Social Democrats are members of) lost their combined majority for the first time. (RT)