Schröder Says He Will Run Again

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has confirmed reports that he will run again for the country’s top job. Schröder, 59, said he would seek a third term even though when first elected in 1998 he often said he would only serve two terms in office. Schröder’s Social Democrats (SPD) hit record lows in opinion polls this year over skyrocketing unemployment and an economy that has dipped into recession. He has previously been coy in public about whether he would stand for re-election. His numbers have not been helped by the program of spending cuts that aim to get Germany’s sputtering economic motor purring again. Also announcing he will stand again is Joschka Fischer, Schröder’s popular Foreign Minister. Fischer, who leads the country’s Green Party and is vice chancellor, had been rumored to be a candidate for a future post of European Union foreign minister.