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In all of my encounters with voters, I have repeatedly been confronted with two points of critique. First: You politicians are all the same! Second: You politicians may be speaking German, but we still don't understand you!

Martin Schulz

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Martin Schulz
Age: 68
Born: 1955
Born: December 20
Bookseller
German Politician
Non-Fiction Writer
Politician
Understand
German
Two
Encounters
Stills
Voters
Still
Points
May
Politicians
Firsts
Speaking
Repeatedly
First
Politician
Confronted
Second
Critique

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Having a place to live is a fundamental right and the state must establish a framework that ensures that apartments are affordable.
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Trump believes politics is a staged fight. But it is not. Still, clear words are sometimes needed in politics. In that sense, I believe I am better than Mrs. Merkel.
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Keeping quiet and letting the others do the talking. That may be Angela Merkel's method, but it's not mine.
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The EU is an unique project that replaced war with peace, hate with solidarity. Overwhelming emotion for awarding of Nobel prize to EU
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We are living through an epochal shift. If we aren't careful, the elementary foundations of our pluralistic democracy will be threatened.
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When it comes to climate protection, the whole world will have to pay the price. But if Donald Trump intends to conclude a trade agreement with the EU, he will have to abide by our climate standards. In any case, waiving climate protection does not make American products more competitive.
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In 2003, Helmut Schmidt said: Predatory capitalism exists, we have to civilize it and we can do that via Europe. He was right. We haven't tried hard enough.
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We won't get any growth in Greece by just imposing cuts. What I would prefer is a special economic zone for Greece.
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I believe the people should have the opportunity to have a greater influence on politics with their ideas. We need a new impulse for renewal.
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We need economic growth in Europe and we need to find a solution for the excessive interest rates that are making it difficult for many countries to get their own debt under control.
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We all have to accept accusations that we ignored the refugee crisis for far too long. The first time that I referred to the Mediterranean Sea as Europe's cemetery was in October 2013, when hundreds of people drowned off Lampedusa. Italians, Maltese, Greeks and Spaniards have been pleading for help for years. But nobody cared.
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The construction of social housing and the attempt to support families seeking to buy their own homes are all projects from the 1960s and '70s. It all sounds old-fashioned, but it is actually completely modern.
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Referendums are a democratic instrument, but so are decisions reached in a parliamentary democracy. I advise extreme caution when it comes to referendums. In Germany too.
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The claim made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that the refugee question is a German problem is incorrect. It is a European problem.
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European policy is always an interplay of rationality and emotion.
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At the end of the day, men like Donald Trump need to be given that which they themselves dispense: clear messages. I would confront him as clearly and explicitly as possible. It is not only the right, but also the duty, of the leader of a German government to do that.
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I am a man of parliament, a man of the people. I am not a representative of the executives.
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Ms. Merkel's attempt to present herself as a Social Democrat was a clever move. But it's not working anymore. The divisions between the CDU and CSU have simply become too great for that.
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I really don't have time at the moment for coalition debates. The voters will decide what the next parliament will look like. Those who wish to form a coalition with The Social Democrats can take a look at our platform and then they are more than welcome to talk to us.
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I'm fully aware that my vision of a European bicameral parliament can't be implemented tomorrow. I'm also not an integration fanatic.
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