German Election: Leading candidate Schultz disavows Trump’s call to increase NATO spending

This year’s German election is a historical one; it could either end the 12-year reign of the incumbent German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Ms. Merkel could become the longest-serving Chancellor of Germany by securing a fourth term. This year’s election is the toughest re-election she has ever faced according to her own statement.

While many thought the anti-immigrant party, Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) would be the biggest rival this year, it is turning out to be her own coalition partner Social Democratic Party (SPD), who candidate Martin Schultz has recently disavowed the US President Donald Trump call to NATO members to spend more on defense and abide by NATO’s 2 percent GDP spending on defense rule. Currently, there are only a handful of countries in Europe, which are abiding by the rules.

The latest poll shows that Mr. Schultz is leading with 32 percent support, followed by 31 percent for Ms. Merkel, 11 percent for AfD, 8 percent for the Greens, 7 percent for the Left, 6 percent for Liberals, and 5 percent for others.

With regard to President Trump’s demand, Mr. Schultz said that German social democracy has always put an emphasis on disarmament and he doesn’t take the view that it was agreed among NATO members that they have to reach the 2 percent defense spending rules. He added, “If I interpret this correctly, it was just said that one can aim for it……To spend an additional €20billion (£17.05bn) on defense is certainly not the goal a government led by me would pursue.”