Angela Merkel’s Social Democratic challenger said he’ll shun campaign tactics associated with U.S. President Donald Trump and defend a fragile Europe as he won his party’s backing to take on the German chancellor in September elections.
Martin Schulz, a former European Parliament president, made the pledges in a speech before Social Democratic delegates in Berlin elected him party head with a record tally of 100 percent, followed by a show of hands backing his candidacy. The convention on Sunday, punctuated by cheers and standing ovations, sends Schulz onto the campaign trail with early momentum that’s lifted his party into a statistical tie with Merkel’s Christian Democrat-led bloc in national polls.
