SPD to Focus on Iraq War in European Elections

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's campaign will stress that those wanting Europe to become the world’s peacemaker must strengthen the German government and the Social Democrats in the June 13 elections. The first SPD posters of the campaign were presented in Berlin on Monday. One of the posters from the Social Democrats shows Franz Müntefering, the new SPD chief, with the slogan: "Germany the Peacemaker – thanks to the SPD." The key-message in the SPD campaign appears to be that Germany’s opposition towards the Iraq war was right – and still is. Europe should be a "power of prevention," the party says, according to Die Welt. Turning the European elections into a referendum on the Iraq war is likely to cause the Christian Democrat opposition party trouble. They have supported the U.S. line in Iraq, while the German people in general have generally remained sceptical towards this war. (EUobserver.com)