AFP, Berlin :
Billed as Germany’s “anti-Trump”, former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected on Sunday as the new head of state, vowing to stand up to simplistic populist rhetoric.
The 61-year-old, who regularly polls as Germany’s most popular politician, will represent the EU’s top economy abroad in the largely ceremonial post and act as a kind of moral arbiter for the nation.
His Social Democrats (SPD) hope the appointment will boost their fortunes just as their candidate Martin Schulz, the former European parliament president, readies to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in September elections.
Accepting the five-year post, Steinmeier said he would promote dialogue and democracy in the current “stormy times” when many citizens fear the world is “coming undone”.
And he vowed to stand up to the rising trend of populism and “all those who think that in a world which is becoming more difficult, the solutions must become simpler”. “The answers will remain difficult, and I think the best answers can be found in democracy,” he said, speaking to ARD television shortly after the vote.
With his snowy white hair, round glasses and dimpled smile, Steinmeier is one of Germany’s best-known politicians, having twice served as top diplomat under Merkel for a total of seven years.
Though the trained lawyer is usually measured in his speech, in the thick of last year’s US election campaign Steinmeier labelled Donald Trump a “hate preacher”.
The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper judged that Steinmeier looks set to be “the anti-Trump president” when he assumes the post on March 19.
