Merkel rival vows to fight German election like France's Macron
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Chancellor Angela Merkel's Social Democrat (SPD) rival said on Saturday he would model his campaign for the Sept. 24 federal election on that of Emmanuel Macron, an outsider who was voted in as French President two weeks ago.
Martin Schulz, trying to regain momentum after a shock election loss in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia last week, the SPD's third defeat this year, said Macron's win showed a pro-European campaign could work. "I will do exactly the same. We need a strong impulse for Europe that also stirs up a new enthusiasm for Europe," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
In stark contrast to his opponent in the second round of the presidential election, French nationalist Marine Le Pen, Macron championed Europe. Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament who was chosen to lead the struggling SPD in January, reiterated support for Macron's idea of a common euro group budget to help jointly tackle growth in the currency union and create jobs.
