HEARTILY loathed by sections of his own party, Gerhard Schroder is the only Social Democrat opinion polls say can defeat Dr Kohl next year.
The 53 year old Prime Minister of Lower Saxony serves on the board of Volkswagen and is popular among business leaders as well as trade unionists.
He is unique among Social Democrats in appealing to conservative voters with a pragmatic, non ideological recipe for economic recovery.
Critics claim that Mr Schroeder is unprincipled in his lust for power and warn that, if elected, he would slow the pace of European integration.
