Outgoing Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Matthias Platzeck (R) and intermediate successor and Rhineland Palatinate Premier Kurt Beck address a news conference in Berlin April 10, 2006. The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, is to step down only months after taking office, party officials said on Monday. Sign reads ' We Secure Germany's Future'. REUTERS/Joachim Herrmann