Photo: DPAGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief challenger in September elections, Martin Schulz, faces a party congress on Sunday where he will be pressed for a strategy to reverse his plunging popularity. Backing for the SPD this week hit a 2017 low, while Merkel's party is enjoying a lead of 14 to 16 percentage points. Schulz initially "was presented as an alternative to Madame Merkel," said Gero Neugebauer, a political science analyst at Berlin's Free University. He added that Schulz "is an excellent chancellor candidate with good prospects of winning the election". "A change at the top is neither necessary nor even seriously considered by anyone in the SPD," he added.

Source: The Local June 25, 2017 07:52 UTC