Nearly two years after Gerhard Schroeder exited the political stage, his Social Democrats (SPD) are struggling to fill a void left by Germany's charismatic former leader and come to terms with his legacy of economic reform.
On Monday, leading party moderates will present a new book that defends the SPD's shift to the political centre under Schroeder - a transformation party traditionalists blame for their 2005 defeat at the hands of Angela Merkel's conservatives. The 340-page tome, entitled "In Tune with the Times", is a warning shot to party leftists who would prefer to disown Schroeder's policies at a high-profile SPD congress next month and return the party to its labour-friendly roots.
The debate is likely to heat up in the coming months as SPD leaders strive to reclaim political ground lost to both Merkel and the surging new Left party of SPD-defector Oskar Lafontaine ahead of key state elections next year.
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