SDPG nominated Martin Schulz as a candidate for the post of chancellor

The former speaker of the European Parliament Martin Schulz is elected the new leader of the German Social Democratic Party and was nominated from it to the post of chancellor of the country, writes Der Spigel. At the extraordinary congress of the party in Berlin, all 605 delegates voted for his candidacy. The previous record of popularity in the party - 99.7 percent - was at Kurt Schumacher in 1948.

In his program, the candidate made the main emphasis on the reform of labor and social legislation. Schulz, announced by the Chancellor of the Angel Merkel, called the deductions to the Cashcess of the European Union, called the "economically unreasonable old fifth campaign." This approach, according to him, can in the future deprive the European Union of billions necessary for investment. Schulz has been abstained from statements on migration policy issues.

As Deutsche Welle notes , Schultz is a consistent critic of Russia's foreign policy. In the fall of 2016, even as a speaker of the BEP, the politician said that "Russia's aggressive actions is a reflection of the public concept and views on the world that have nothing to do with our European philosophy of mutual respect and openness." Schulz called for a strategy for a tough response to the actions of Moscow. “We must with all our means to confront Putin’s attempt to split into the European Union and influence the domestic policy of the EU countries,” he emphasized.

In the talk show on the Ard television channel, Schulz noticed relative to the Russians: "By the way, I do not particularly like them, it is generally difficult to love them." Then he admitted that he personally did not like Putin, and he called the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Lavrov "player in poker."

The politician also advocates for the speedy granting of Ukrainian citizens the right of visa -free entry into the EU countries.

In June 2015, at the initiative of Schults , access to the European Parliament of Russia under the EU Vladimir Chizhov was limited to access to the European Parliament . It was reported that Chizhov "will be able to visit the European Parliament, but he will need to request a pass for every visit." Meanwhile, all diplomats accredited by the EU have permanent passes that allow them to freely visit the European Parliament during working hours. The same measure was adopted in relation to another Russian official, whose name was not specified.

In addition, it was decided to consider the requests of deputies of the State Duma and members of the Federation Council for access to the EP in each individual case on an individual basis. Finally, the European Parliament suspended participation in the EU - Russia parliamentary cooperation committee.

All these sanctions have been imposed in response to the adoption of the list of citizens of the EU countries, which are prohibited from entering Russia. Schulz noted that he had repeatedly asked Russia to officially publish a black list and explain the reasons why each of the defendants got into it, but these requests were ignored. The introduction of sanctions was explained precisely by the refusal of Moscow to follow the submitted calls.

Bundestag elections will be held in September. In addition to Schulz, Merkel, a representative of the HDS/CSS block, also intend to participate in them - as well as right -wing populists.