Andrea Nahles: first wife at helm SPD

berlin - The German Social Democrats are apparently for the first time led by a woman, Andrea Nahles. German media reported that party leader Martin Schulz gave up his position for a ministerial post in the new big coalition with the Christian Democrats led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The 47-year-old Nahles comes from the vicinity of Bonn and is seen as someone from the left wing of the Social Democratic SPD. She has been Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in Merkel's third cabinet (2013-2017) and she is now Group Chairman in the Bundestag.

The SPD dates from the sixties of the nineteenth century and is the oldest political party in the country. She has also been the biggest for a long time. The party 'has been shrinking' in recent years, according to many party members due to the lake government in the shadow of Merkel. In the new coalition on which an agreement was reached on Wednesday, the SPD would be much more prominent, with for example ministers of finance, foreign affairs and employment and social affairs.