Designated German Defence Minister Peter Struck is surrounded by the
media after being named as the successor of dismissed Defence Minister
Rudolf Scharping in Berlin on July 18, 2002. German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder who had called an SPD emergency board meeting said he had
dismissed Scharping who had come under fire over suspect income two
month before the general elections on Thursday. Schroeder told a news
conference in Berlin he would ask the President Johannes Rau to relieve
Scharping of his duties and replace him with Peter Struck,
parliamentary floor leader of the SPD. REUTERS/Alexandra Winkler

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