Rivals gear up for TV showdown

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her centre-left rival, Martin Schulz, are preparing for their only televised debate before the Sept 24 election following a campaign that so far has lacked a head-to-head showdown between the two leading candidates.

Ms Merkel, who heads Germany’s centre-right Christian Democrats, has stepped up her campaigning in recent weeks as she seeks a fourth term leading Europe’s biggest economy. She has highlighted the country’s prosperity and sought to address conservative fears with a tougher line on policing and immigration.

In an interview published on Saturday, Ms Merkel said she wants to continue police checks introduced at Germany’s borders as a temporary measure in September 2015, a procedure the European Union says runs contrary to the bloc’s travel rules.

Ms Merkel, 63, told daily newspaper Rheinische Post she’s confident the EU has “an open ear for our arguments’’ to extend the controls beyond their Nov 11 expiration date. They began amid an influx of asylum-seekers that critics partly blame on the chancellor’s welcoming approach to refugees.

Germany’s Social Democratic Party unexpectedly nominated Mr Schulz, 61, in January to challenge Ms Merkel. He has been free to campaign full-time since he left his post as president of the European Parliament, the EU’s legislative body.

But Mr Schulz has refrained from making sustained attacks on Ms Merkel’s leadership, focusing instead on issues of social justice and pledging to get rid of US nuclear weapons stationed in Germany.

In an interview published on Saturday by daily newspaper Bild, Mr Schulz said he wasn’t nervous about yesterday’s debate, which was due to be broadcast live by four of Germany’s main television stations.

A poll published on Friday by public broadcaster ZDF put the Social Democrats with 22% support, compared to 39% for Ms Merkel’s bloc.