Peer Steinbrueck, the Social Democratic party (SPD) candidate in the upcoming general elections, talks to tourists with a microphone from the bridge of a boat, during a harbour trip in Warnemuende, August 9, 2013. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrueck travelled to eastern Germany on Saturday to try to calm a storm over his recent comments suggesting opponent Angela Merkel lacked passion for Europe because she grew up in the former communist East.
The Social Democrat (SPD) trails Merkel's conservatives by some 15 points in opinion polls with just six weeks left until a German election, and has been searching desperately for issues that might help him narrow the gap.
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