parliamentary group. chancellor angela merkel delivered her response to on grant alice's resignation a short while ago let's take a listen to what she had to say. you know who can talk my good afternoon ladies and gentleman. and malice has made a very significant decision today both for herself personally and for the social democratic party of germany and i think i would like to express the respect i feel for the decision and to be honest as you made i worked together with her for many years both as a journalist of labor and social affairs and also show democrats party leader parliamentary group leader i always worked with her on the basis of trust and everything she said was completely reliable. she is a social democrat through and through that can certainly be said but i also think she's a decent person. for dinner and of course i respect the decision you know that the social democratic party will have to make in terms of a successor for under the analysis but despite that i would like to speak on behal

we can have a look now at that statement in which she said that discussions in the parliamentary group and feedback from the party of sharon i no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duties and so she will be standing down as s.p.d. party leader and as the leader of the parliamentary group as of tomorrow so did this statement from knowledge's take her party members by surprise what's been their reaction it's a new has been a little bit of a surprise in the short term we think she'd already pulled forward to this this vote that was planned for choose day on her leadership of the parliamentary group that was actually planned for september that already being brought forward because of the diaries the record lows for the social democrats here in germany in last week's european elections and also in a very important state election for them that took part that took place story on the same weekend there has been a real mixed bag of reactions from the social democrats this morning. so my expression that regret of course knowledge led to the posse really into this current coalition

parliamentary group. for some analysis i'm joined in the studio by political correspondent kate brady kate thanks for joining us nonis was supposed to put her leadership of the parliamentary group to vote on tuesday why this sudden resignation caylee she's taken this decision into her own hands and as you mentioned that was for the position as parliamentary group leader but in this decision today she's actually announced it will be standing down as party leader as well to separate. positions in the social democrats to huge decisions to make and this is clearly a very direct reaction to those really quite dismal results that we saw just a week ago in the elections with the s.p.d. now sacked as the 3rd strongest party in germany they walked away with just under 60 percent of the votes dismal for any party but especially for a woman that is currently in the governing coalition of course they are currently governing germany with merkel's conservatives what does this mean for the for the s.p.d. well clearly th

parliamentary group. after some analysis i'm joined in the studio by our political correspondent kate brady kate thanks for joining us. why the sudden resignation well this certainly is a direct response to those die a results that we saw just 7 days ago in the european elections of course historic lows now for the social democrats that currently the 3rd strongest party here in germany according to those e.u. election results and there's even been polls this week as well where we've seen on the greens topping the polls here in germany and of course the s.p.d. made huge losses to the greens in there is action losing more than a 1000000 voters to them so this is very much a response to those failings now nonis was seen as a fresh hope really wasn't she for the s.p.d. someone who could bring back voters off to massive losses in the last national election what's gone wrong so quickly well there really was some hope there but at the same time she faced criticism from day one of course there were many skeptics

parliamentary group and the s.p.d. is the junior partner in germany's governing coalition with the conservative c.d.u. and the cd use leader unexplained come on by i made a statement a short while ago let's take a listen now to what she had to say. gentleman the com hi i'd like to extend to one welcome to all of you i have come to speak about the resignation of. the party leader of the social democrats. and formed me this morning about her plan to resign as social democrat party leader and parliamentary group leader try it to me i have a great deal of respect for the decision she has made i would like to express my gratitude under a analysis for our good cooperation so far i've always experienced during the coalition negotiations and as party leader of the social democrats as a person with a strong character and an honest and reliable partner. i am working on the assumption that the social democrats will quickly make personnel related decisions and ensure that the grand coalition remains. capable of acting for the c.d.

discussions in the parliamentary group and feedback from the party have shown that i no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duties on monday i will therefore resign as chair of the s.p.d. and on tuesday i will resign as chair of the s.p.d. parliamentary group nala says resignation follows the party's dismal performance in last month's european elections its worst ever showing at the polls given city vivisected results that we have so far are extremely disappointing for the s.p.d. everyone knows that the surveys regarding our party have not been good in the last . our task was to try and work our way out of these poor survey results sadly despite all our work we didn't manage to swing things around. during the initial. surprise. the s.p.d. was once a big tent party but years of playing 2nd fiddle in chancellor angela merkel's government have left the social democrats struggling to stay relevant new polling puts the s.p.d. a just 12 percent a distant 3rd behind the greens and conservatives coalition has found it difficult to make headway since its painful formation after the

discussions in the parliamentary group and feedback from the party have shown that i no longer have the necessary support to carry out my judi's on monday i will therefore resign as chair of the s.p.d. and on tuesday i will resign as chair of the s.p.d. parliamentary group nala says resignation follows the party's dismal performance in last month's european elections its worst ever showing at the polls in city view to see the results that we have so far are extremely disappointing for the s.p.d. everyone knows that the surveys regarding our party have not been good in the last . go our task was to try and work our way out of these poor survey results sadly despite all our work we didn't manage to swing things around. during the initial. surprise. the s.p.d. was once a big tent party but years of playing 2nd fiddle in chancellor angela merkel's government have left the social democrats struggling to stay relevant new polling puts the s.p.d. a just 12 percent a distant 3rd behind the greens and conservatives coalition has found it difficult to make headway since its painful formation afte

discussions in the parliamentary group and feedback from the party have shown that i no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duties on monday i will therefore resign as chair of the s.p.d. and on tuesday i will resign as chair of the s.p.d. parliamentary group nala says resignation follows a party's dismal performance in last month's european elections its worst ever showing at the polls in city view to see the results that we have so far are extremely disappointing for the s.p.d. everyone knows that the surveys regarding our party have not been good in the last . you know our task was to try and work our way out of these poor survey results sadly despite all our work we didn't manage to swing things around. during the initial. surprise. yes p.d. was once a big tent party but years of playing 2nd fiddle in chancellor angela merkel's government have left the social democrats struggling to stay relevant new polling puts the s.p.d. a just 12 percent a distant 3rd behind the greens and conservatives merkel's coalition has found it difficult to make headway since its painful for

discussions in the parliamentary group and feedback from the party of shown that i no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duties on monday i will therefore resign as chair of the s.p.d. and on tuesday i will resign as chair of the s.p.d. parliamentary group all right let's get some analysis on all of this and for that i'm joined in the studio by our political correspondent kate brady said hello to you kate. underpaying aulus was actually supposed to put her leadership to a vote just this coming tuesday so why the sudden resignation exactly i mean this really is a direct response to those die of results that we saw for the social democrats here in germany and also in other parts of europe as well in last week's e.u. elections of course those results left the social democrats in. that currently the 3rd strongest party in germany they walked away with just under 16 percent of the vite that's a wreck old labor for the social democrats so this is certainly a direct response from that and as we saw there in the statement knowledge has taken this as a sign from vises and from o

is a party leader and the leader of the parliamentary group. which is something we have here in the german parliament so it's still unclear whether that's going to take place but it really seems that she's taken this decision out of the hands of her party and eventually probably most likely her party members as well if you look around the german media especially this morning there's quite a few headlines and piece of commentary already coming out about this being a surprise but actually if you look at the way that the things have played out for the s.p.d. for the social democrats in the last few months if not years this really doesn't come as a surprise and what a week they've had as well it was only it's only 7 days ago that as you mentioned the s.p.d. so fit huge losses in the european election and in a very important 60 state election as well here in germany and that was a huge blow to the social democrats now initially after there's a results came out the results in the european elections were a record low for the social democrats at around

discussions in the parliamentary group and feedback from the party have shown that i no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duty is on monday i will therefore resign as chair of the s.p.d. and on tuesday i will resign as chair of the s.p.d. parliamentary group nala says resignation follows the party's dismal performance in last month's european elections its worst ever showing at the polls here given city vivisect the results that we have so far are extremely disappointing for the s.p.d. everyone knows that the surveys regarding our party have not been good in the last . our task was to try and work our way out of these poor survey results sadly despite all our work we didn't manage to swing things around. during the initial. surprise. the s.p.d. was once a big tent party but the years of playing 2nd fiddle in chancellor angela merkel's government have left the social democrats struggling to stay relevant new polling puts the s.p.d. a just 12 percent a distant 3rd behind the greens and conservatives coalition has found it difficult to make headway since its painful formati

you know we also had i think also callie on the conservative side as parliamentary party group leader come out and he did of course mention. to handle quite a bit of internal and external criticism and then to now this in self in a statement said that she simply didn't have the kind of support that would have seen her reelected as part of mentor group leader that you know quite clearly was the reason why she decided to throw in the towel but that she does it so completely that a surprise to many people also here and that has led to a 5.0 c. also saying maybe it's a moment to pause and think you know what do we want to see politicians exposed to whether that was really still just criticism and whether they should have to take that. you know the media here is trying very hard not to take that especially criticism but really there were some voices within her own party who wanted to see her out but then wouldn't step up and say well they would be candidates themselves so here is the city you had quarters lot of respect for and realists this evening but also a lot of concern and i think th

and formed me this morning about her plan to resign as social democrat party leader and parliamentary group leader. i have a great deal of respect for the decision she has made i would like to express my gratitude. for our good cooperation so 5 always experienced during the coalition negotiations and as party leader of the social democrats as a person with a strong character and an honest and reliable partner. for hours working on the assumption that the social democrats will quickly make a person that will relate decisions and ensure that the grand coalition remains. capable of acting for the c.d.u. it remains clear that this is not a time for party tactics we remain committed to the grand coalition with good policy we aim to serve our country if you do you will contribute to the reliability and capacity of germany to act the grand coalition for us is not a means in itself the coalition agreement forms the basis for setting the political course of germany and representing german and trusts in europe and in the world as you do you will continue to contribution to working towards a strong fu

correspondent kate brady so kate no this was in fact supposed to put her leadership of the parliamentary group to a vote just this coming tuesday so why the sudden resignation exactly is a surprise that she has decided to take this decision into her own hands of course that vote had already in fact been pulled forward from september after those dismal losses which you talked about there and this really is a time for a lot of question in the s.p.t. now to see exactly what direction they want to go and of course they've suffered huge losses they completely missed the correct issues in which they were they were really necessary to come pain on the head of those elections and so there's going to be a lot of soul searching now once again in the social democrats to see exactly what direction they want to go and so with knowledge vacating the leadership of the s.p.d. what does this mean for the s.p.d. moving forward moving forward of course there is a question of whether they want to also stay in the governing grand coalition of course at the moment they are in fact in government with angela merkel's

years both as journalist of labor and social affairs and a social democrat party leader of parliamentary group leader i always worked with her on the basis of trust and everything she said was completely reliable. that she is a social democrat through and through that can certainly be said but i also think she's a decent person. for dinner and of course i respect the decision that these the national democratic party will have to make in terms of the success of. the despite that i would like to speak on behalf of the government and say that we will press saw me with the work of governing this country with all of the stories that this job entails and with a great awareness of the responsibility we bear because the issues we need to address are clear. both in the federal public germany here at home and europe and in the world if you look at the situation generally and in this spirit we will continue to do our work thank you very much. ok for more analysis correspondent my actuator is outside the social democrats headquarters and we're joined by chief political editor michelle of course now who's

preferred hamlet in germany is what it is it means that if you look at all of the different parliamentary groups in the european parliament whoever gets the most seats well they're just bits and candidates their preferred candidate gets looked at 1st by the e.u. heads of government if they like that candidate well they put them forward to majority votes for them they put them forward to the european parliament parliament then votes on them and if they vote them through they become the next european commission president if they don't the whole system starts right over again with whoever came in 2nd as we understand it well so far the heads of government weren't that impressed with munford verba who is the candidate from the p.p. who got the most seats in the most recent european elections and also they weren't that keen on france timmons from the socialists the european socialist group who got the 2nd highest amount of seats in the parliament so we really are all up in the air at the moment we are looking at a split though between key power brokers inside the e.u. over this money we're mccaughan

several small they just like the possibly to step or maybe now we do know also the head of the parliamentary groups but it's interesting to see i'm coming back to the very because it was very interesting it was a it was an almost copy of another in about book and. robust topic that was running the campaign that i was little and. mr schultz and they they were quite the same team and in the end it was clear at that point that if they would be able to lead a government it would be the mayor kind of debt because they had already sorted out the qualifications he was. a more qualified person and that's why i'm coming back to principle worse is appeal they need to find their decisions before they appeal with them to the voters they need to make these decisions now and this is something that needs to be happening not spaced on polls but needs to based on their own convictions because their party that is very much about convictions or policies they started as a party that was only based on the ecological. suppose it was a one issue francis and ship them some fancy as well they then have an internal discussi

in the same way, many colleagues from my party, by shadow cabinet and parliamentary group that are hereproud to put forward the same principle for an education system based on the right to learn and the right to know, not the ability to be able to buy it from somebody else. it is about the kind of world we want to live in. there isa of world we want to live in. there is a refugee crisis around the world. there are 65 million people across the globe who have no place to call their own as home. they are living as internal exile is in refugee camps oi’ living as internal exile is in refugee camps or they are undertaking perilous journeys to try to reach a place of safety. 65 million is more than in any time in recorded history there have been displaced people on this globe. can we stop treating people who travel for a place of safety, escape from oppression, from climate change induced degradation or economic poverty to try to make their contribution to the world, don't treat them as enemies, treat them as fellow human beings and citizens of this planet who deserve our support, oui’ this p

leadership in the fall the party they with this afternoon decided on an interim leadership in the parliamentary group and i think that germany be a contender to be a stable country and even if this government would change you then would have a coalition between christian democrats and greens and this would not mean a major shift of jump policy so yes there's a lot of noise a lot of conflict but as an outsider i always say compared with other european countries it's an island of stability gotten focus senior member of the social democrats in germany thank you very much for you know in fact. today is one and bicycle day a survey by a german insurance company has named the dutch city of your tracks as the most cycling friendly in the wild a parties they have introduced a range of measures to encourage people to ride bikes some are quite surprising and as we report you checked was not always known for its clean and exercise. toss trillian kylie fund could not imagine life without a car in her homeland but since moving to the dutch city. she almost always rides a bike for transport that took some getting

joined here in the studio by daniela by as a member of the german parliament with the green parliamentary group fred thank you so much for coming in from what was basically a fringe party to the very top of the polls what is your party planning on doing to hold onto that momentum to that wave of popularity that you're writing right now 1st of all we have seen such great polls already but we weren't able to finish up in the elections but we have a very european very successful european elections a couple of weeks ago and of course there's a push for our topics that we are standing for which is protecting the environment combating climate change and defending the open society and that's what we want to work on because we think the government is not doing enough about it talking about the government this coalition is in trouble the waters are not doing very well there's even talk of a possibility of snap elections you stand to benefit from that well 1st of all it's the responsibility of the coalition we need a government we need a strong government that is actionable germany will lead the present

leadership in the for the party they with this afternoon decide on an interim leadership in the parliamentary group and i think that germany be a contender to be a stable country and even if this government would change you and then we'll have a coalition between christian democrats and greens and this would not mean a major shift of jump policy so yes there's a lot of noise a lot of conflict but as an outsider i always say compared with other european countries it's an island of stability gotten focus senior member of the s.p.d. social democrat in germany thank you very much for you know in fact it. a debate is raging in venice of a where the big ships should be allowed so close to the city strategized canals and it comes after a cruise liner lost control and crashed into a pier and a tourist boat at the weekend injuring several people. the huge cruise ship bled its horn but it was too late for the much smaller tourist vessel to get out of the way the 13 deck opera with some 2 and a half 1000 passengers on board hit the river county. and then pushed past it crashing into the dock. there are at lea

now we do know also the head of the parliamentary groups but it's i interesting to see i'm coming back to the very because it was very interesting it was a it was a almost. copy of another in about book and are -- over the topic that was running the campaign that was lipstick costs money and as usual sam. and they they were quite the same team and in the end it was clear. at that point that if they would be able to lead a government it will be the mad kind of that because they had already. sorted out the qualifications he was the more qualified person and that's why i'm coming back to p pncipal worse's appeal. they need to find the decisions before they appeal with them to the votives they need to make these decisions now. and this is something that needs to be happening not space on polls but need to based on their own convictions because they're a party that is very much. about conditions of policies they started as a party that was short only based on the ecological practice on the list of postings one issue fonzie essential. financiers wealthy then half an internal discussion who w

quite some while now she announced last friday that you will call for elections within the parliamentary group once used day and then she surprised everyone on sunday by saying ok you know what i leave it and i leave both leadership positions and that's a big shake up and so therefore we'll see what this makes what the party put this in perspective for us how much of an existential threat is this for the s.p.d. i mean do they just need to kind of step out of the coalition and do some soul search searching now it is the most serious situation the s.p.d. has been maybe in its entire history despite the period during the 2nd world war but this is really if you scenes of 20 years ago in 1909 so the party had been ranking in forty's so they won the elections in $98.00 with 40 percent now they are close to 10 and my prediction would be what however actually they solve the situation there will be the 1st polls bushell them under 10 percent and so wipe out they slowly socially so therefore it's a big question marks on how to proceed and sir it's not even for an expert easy to to give any recommendatio

leadership in the for the party they with this afternoon decide on an interim leadership in the parliamentary group and i think that germany be a contender to be a stable country and even if this government would change you then would have coalition between christian democrats and greens and this would not mean a major shift of jump policy so yes there's a lot of noise a lot of conflict but as an outsider i always say compared with other european countries it's an island of stability gotten focus senior member of the s.p.d. social democrat in germany thank you very much fail in fact. turning now to some other news and boeing has admitted that 45 may have been stored on some of its 737 airliners the company has been under intense pressure since 2737 max planes crashed within months of each other killing a total of 346 feet for the model has been grounded worldwide since march boeing's admission has 1st the i said by john and i'm canceling an order for 10 of the jets scientific safety concerns. from cash cow to a $1000000000.00 liability boeing 737 models are back in the headlines and once again it's

alexander graf lamb star for the free democratic party and chair of the german israeli parliamentary friendship group thank you sir thank you. next to yemen where fighting has erupted between pro-government forces and hooty rebels in the southwestern city of taiz officials say at least 16 rebels have been killed in the violence the united nations has called yemen's 5 year civil war the world's worst humanitarian crisis. the rumble of tanks. the boom of cannon fire. the rattle of machine guns the residents of the city of thais hope they'd heard the last of these sounds after gaiman's warring parties agreed to a cease fire last december but now the standoff between government forces and iran back to the rebels has again turned violent that's after a spate of hooty drone attacks in saudi arabia which has sided with the government . the 4 year conflict has already killed thousands and caused what the united nations says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. and the suffering in yemen could increase still the u.n. last week announced that it is partially suspending aid deliveries it blames the who tea

and informs me this morning about her plan to resign as original democrat party leader and parliamentary group leader. i have a great deal of respect for the decision she has made i would like to express my gratitude. for our good cooperation so far i've always experienced her in the coalition negotiations and as party leader of the social democrats as a person with a strong character an honest and reliable partner. i am working on the assumption that the social democrats will quickly make personnel related decisions and ensure that the grand coalition remains. capable of acting for the c.d.u. it remains clear that this is not a time for party tactics we remain committed to the grand coalition with good policy we aim to serve our country so you do you will contribute to the reliability and capacity of germany to act the grand coalition for us is not a means in itself the coalition agreement forms the basis for setting the political course of germany and representing german interests in europe and in the world do you will continue to contribution to working towards a strong functioning governme