A former leader of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel suggested “the party could quit Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition over the nomination of Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission chief”, Reuters reports, as cited in the German magazine Der Spiegel.
Gabriel said: “If Merkel names von der Leyen without a cabinet decision, that is a clear violation of the rules of the federal government – and a reason to leave the government.”
Gabriel described von der Leyen’s nomination as an “unprecedented act of political trickery.”
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