(20 Sep 2002)
1. Wide shot of stage
2. Close up of SPD (German Social Democrat Party) logo on stage
3. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder walking through applauding crowd to stage
4. Audience applauding
5. Schroeder on stage waving
6. Schroeder and German author Gunther Grass waving together
7. Schroeder's wife Doris clapping in audience
8. Schroeder at podium waving, sign on podium reads: For a modern Germany
9. Audience
10. SOUNDBITE (German) Gerhard Schroeder, German Chancellor:
"This region (the Middle East) needs a lot more peace and not new war. And I'd like to add that the thing making this peace possible now - sending into Iraq the UN observers - is something we have to enforce with all possible means. This chance we have is something we to go through with and this solution is the best one we have for achieving peace. We should get through with this process and shouldn't allow anybody to ask more from Iraq at this stage that we have been offered."
11. Wide of audience
12. SOUNDBITE (German) Gerhard Schroeder, German Chancellor:
"Having a policy of international solidarity in the UN is normal and it will remain. In the existential question of peace and war, however, we will be deciding for ourselves in Berlin and we will keep on making our decisions there."
13. Wide of Schroeder on large screen
14. Schroeder waving
15. Various of applauding audience
STORYLINE:
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's was on Friday relying on an anti-war stand on Iraq and defiance of the United States to earn him a second term as Germany's leader.
Speaking to voters in Dortmund ahead of Sunday's elections, Schroeder pressed the issues that have re-ignited his election campaign against conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber, the Bavarian governor who has battered the incumbent over the economy and 10 percent unemployment rate.
The German leader opposes a new war that could further destabilise the Middle East, he said.
Schroeder's comeback over the past few weeks could make him the first postwar chancellor to win an election on a platform of opposing the United States, Germany's bedrock ally since the end of World War II.
The Chancellor stood by the principle of solidarity between United Nations members, but said that Berlin would still retain the right to decide whether to participate in a war.
If Schroeder's Social Democrats do win enough seats in the new 598-member parliament to form another government, he will immediately face a tough task, however: rebuilding trust in Washington after his loud refusal to follow any U.S. military action against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
