Steinbrück attacks Merkel's Europe stance Germany's former finance minister, who is set to challenge Angela Merkel in national elections next year, accused the chancellor of isolating Germany in Europe as he accepted the official nomination of his Social Democratic party. Peer Steinbrück, 65, who served alongside Ms Merkel during the onset of the global financial crisis, said the chancellor had used Germany's economic strength to act as Europe's task master in the eyes of its neighbours. "A good neighbour doesn't do that," he said, according to the Associated Press. My main accusation is that Ms Merkel has [led] Germany into isolation in Europe. In a speech launching his campaign before a crowd of 600 delegates in Hannover on Sunday, Mr Steinbrück also called for greater social justice in Germany, a national minimum wage and a renaissance of the social market economy. "Germany needs more "We" and less "I,"" he said to roars of approval. Mr Steinbrück, a centrist in a left-of-centre party, is a sharp-witted political pugilist whose frank opinions have occasionally attracted controversy. Swiss politicians were famously outraged when Mr Steinbrück compared them to Indians running scared from the cavalry during a dispute over banking secrecy. Mr Steinbrück favours sweeping financial regulation, splitting investment from retail banking - a move that would hit Deutsche Bank, the country's only real global player. But the Social Democrat challenger has also faced attacks over his earnings from speaker-engagements during his time in opposition that did not square well with the rank-and-file members of his party. He is popular among the German middle classes, but working-class voters are more sceptical of his centrist views and women have also not warmed to him. The SPD nominee faces an uphill battle to defeat Ms Merkel who remains popular in Germany thanks to near record-low unemployment and her non-confrontational political style. But though Ms Merkel seems likely to remain chancellor, she risks losing her present coalition partner, the centre-right FDP, which is trailing badly in the polls. Many pollsters therefore expect a return of the grand coalition, a political experiment that the cautious German electorate embraced during the financial crisis as it led to consensus-driven decision making. However, Mr Steinbrück said on Sunday he is "not available for a grand coalition" and signalled instead his preference for a coalition of SPD and the Greens. Mr Steinbrück was selected by the party leadership in September after months in which the SPD dithered over who to select for the unenviable task of challenging Ms Merkel. A poll published last week by Infratest put Ms Merkel's Christian Democratic Union on 39 per cent with the SPD on 30 per cent and the Greens 14 per cent. The FDP was favoured by only 4 per cent of those polled, which is below the 5 per cent level required to gain seats in the German parliament.