New SPD Chief Gets Down to Business

The new head of Germany's ruling Social Democrat Party (SPD), Franz Müntefering, rolled up his shirtsleeves and got down to business on his first day in office Monday. First up: a party session aimed at passing an agenda for the coming seven months. Likely topics are the leadership change at the SPD and trade unions' dissatisfaction with SPD-led social reforms. Union umbrella organization DGB complained to the Handelsblatt business daily that the SPD had an internal problem in that recent policies have run counter to the needs of its chief constituency. And Jürgen Peters of the IG-Metall engineering union told Deutschlandfunk radio he hoped the SPD party basis would now have more influence on government decisions with Münterfering heading the party.