EU Parliament chief Schulz returns to German politics
Brussels, Belgium: Germany's Martin Schulz said Thursday he would step down as head of the European Parliament and return to national politics, where speculation grew he could emerge as a challenge to Angela Merkel.
The outspoken former bookseller will quit in January after four years in office, during which he became one of the European Union's most high-profile politicians and gave its assembly sorely-needed visibility.
The bearded 60-year-old did not say if he would run for chancellor against Merkel, although he is widely expected to slot into a prime position for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is currently in coalition with her.
A key figure of the Brussels establishment, his return to Germany may require a painful reshuffle of the EU's top posts amid deep nervousness over Brexit and the rise of populism in Europe.
"I will not run as president of the European Parliament for a third term next year, I will run for the German Bundestag (parliament)," an emotional Schulz told reporters in Brussels.
"It was not an easy decision, as it is an honour to be the president of the European parliament, said Schulz, who is fluent in German, French, English and Dutch.
- Top German job? -
Schulz is tipped in Berlin as a possible replacement to Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who now leads the party but is behind Schulz in latest polling.
He is also floated as a possible replacement for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, another top socialist who is to become Germany's next president.
But Schulz's departure could trigger a toxic game of musical chairs in the heart of Europe, that might even threaten the positions of European Council chief Donald Tusk and European Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker.
Under a long-standing agreement the three top EU posts should not all be held by the same party.
But the centre-right European People's Party, the largest in the parliament, says it had been promised Schulz's job when his two-year mandate ends on December 31 -- and was already angry that Schulz had been working behind the scenes to stay on.
Last week Schulz even won the support of his friend Juncker, who went against his own EPP party to back the German.
Juncker -- who reportedly said he could resign if the German stepped down -- told reporters on Thursday "I regret it " when asked about Schulz's departure.
With Schulz's exit, the EPP group will now announce their own candidate to head the parliament. Its choice will become a near-certainty for the job.
Group leader Manfred Weber of Germany, a close ally of Merkel, declined to say whether he would stand himself. Irish deputy parliament chief Mairead McGuinness and France's Alain Lamassoure having also said they will stand for the EPP.
But Schulz's socialists fired a warning shot, with leader Gianni Pittella saying that "a right-wing monopoly on the EU institutions would be unacceptable."
That could mean problems for former Polish premier Tusk, an EPP member who took over as head of the European Council, which groups the leaders of the 28 states, in November 2014.
Asked after an EU-Ukraine summit if one of them planned to resign, Juncker joked "just him" and gestured toward Tusk. Tusk added: "Personally and physically I am in quite good shape".
- 'Master of the stitch-up' -
A dyed-in-the-wool pro-European who once dreamt of being a footballer, Schulz grew up in the aftermath of World War II and ran a bookshop until 1994.
At 31, he became the youngest ever mayor of Wuerselen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous of the German states, and served for 11 years.
He first hit international headlines in 2003 for facing down a Nazi jibe from Italy's then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in a European Parliament debate.
But Schulz will be better remembered in Brussels as what pro-Brexit British MEP Syed Kamall called the "master of the backroom stitch-up."