Germany’s Foreign Minister, who once referred to Donald Trump as a “hate preacher,” will become his country’s next president.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier would take over the largely ceremonial role as head of state from Joachim Gauck, whose five-year term ends in February.
German news agency DPA reported on Monday that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Union bloc would back Mr. Steinmeier’s nomination for the post.
Together with the votes of Mr. Steinmeier’s own center-left Social Democratic Party, the 60-year-old political veteran would likely have enough support to win a vote among the 1,260 delegates who elect Germany’s next president on February 12.
Social Democratic Party leader Sigmar Gabriel told reporters on Monday that Mr. Steinmeier had earned widespread respect and the necessary trust required to fill the post.
Mr. Steinmeier is regularly ranked among Germany’s most popular politicians. While normally studiously diplomatic, Mr. Steinmeier strongly criticised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during the American election campaign.
Asked in August about the rise of right-wing populism in Germany and elsewhere, he slammed those who “make politics with fear.”
He cited the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, promoters of Britain’s exit from the European Union, and “the hate preachers, like Donald Trump at the moment in the United States.”
