Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24
Trend:
Martin Schulz will not seek another term as president of the European Parliament, and will try his chances in German politics instead, EUobserver reported Nov. 24.
He will lead the list of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the Nord-Rhine Westphalia region in next year's German general election, a source told EUobserver.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he has asked SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel to put his name forward for the position of chancellor.
The SPD recently decided to chose its candidate for the highest post in German politics only in January.
Gabriel could still chose to run himself. The mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, has also been named as a possible contender.
Schulz is also his party's favorite to replace Frank-Walter Steinmeier as foreign minister, who has been nominated by Germany's ruling coalition to take over as the next president of Germany in February.
Schulz has for months fought to stay on as the president of the European Parliament for a third term, despite having promised to hand over the post to the centre-right EPP group after half of the term.
European Commission's president Jean-Claude Juncker had thrown his weight behind Schulz, and even threatened to resign if his friend was forced out, according to Der Spiegel.
A commission spokeswoman, on Monday, didn't deny the statement but ruled out that Juncker was planning to step down.