German election: Merkel, Schulz gear up for TV showdown

BERLIN (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her centre-left rival, Martin Schulz, are preparing for their only televised debate today before the September 24 election following a campaign that so far has lacked a head-to-head showdown between the two leading candidates.

Merkel, who heads Germany's centre-right Christian Democrats, has stepped up her campaigning in recent weeks as she seeks a fourth term leading Europe's biggest economy.

She has highlighted the country's prosperity and sought to address conservative fears with a tougher line on policing and immigration.

In an interview published yesterday, Merkel said she wants to continue police checks introduced at Germany's borders as a temporary measure in September 2015, a procedure the European Union says runs contrary to the bloc's passport-free travel rules.

Germany's Social Democratic Party unexpectedly nominated Schulz, 61, in January to challenge Merkel. He has been free to campaign full-time since he left his post as president of the European Parliament, the EU's legislative body.

But Schulz has refrained from making sustained attacks on Merkel's leadership, focusing instead on issues of social justice and pledging to get rid of US nuclear weapons stationed in Germany.

In an interview published Saturday by daily newspaper Bild, Schulz said he wasn't nervous about today's debate, which will be broadcast live by four of Germany's main television stations.

A poll published Friday put the Social Democrats with 22 per cent support compared to 39 per cent for Merkel's bloc.

The survey of 1,309 German voters had a margin of error of up to 3 percentage points.