Germany's Center-Left Bet Ready To Govern With The Greens

The center-left candidate and frontrunner to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor of Germany said on Sunday that he is ready to lead the country in a coalition with the Greens, Michael Zahender and Henning Otte reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats (SPD) has taken the lead in a number of polls assessing the race for German Chancellor.

Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrats' (SPD) candidate for the highest job in the September 26 national election, said there was never "any doubt" about the party he hoped to work with.

"I would like to govern together with the Greens. I have never left any doubt about that. I've already worked with the Greens in various governments, in the federal government as well as in Hamburg," Scholz told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

"We are different parties, we have different objectives, but we have a lot of overlaps," said Scholz, who currently serves as finance minister in Merkel's government.

A number of polls show Scholz pulling ahead of Merkel's pick to be the next chancellor, Armin Laschet, the center-right's candidate who had been favored for months.

Laschet said during an election campaign rally in the city of Essingen that a coalition between SPD and the Greens would be "a security risk" and that the parties "must not take responsibility in foreign policy alone."

He also accused Scholz of blocking the purchase of armed drones for the Bundeswehr, saying it is urgently necessary to better equip it against hostile attacks. Laschet, himself has been under fire recently for having been seen laughing in the background during a televised tribute to the victims of the flooding in Germany.

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