Germany's would-be centre-left chancellor eyes more than 20% of vote in 2021

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Monday he is aiming to win more than 20% of the vote in next year's general election after his Social Democrats proposed him as their candidate to succeed conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"We think we can manage to get clearly more than 20%," Scholz told reporters. The SPD currently languishes a distant third in most opinion polls behind the conservatives and the surging Greens.

Scholz also said that strengthening Europe would be one of his top three priorities as chancellor, adding that the decision by EU leaders to help coronavirus-hit member states financially should not be viewed as a one-off event.