Rainer Arnold
Rainer Arnold | |
|---|---|
 Rainer Arnold and Frank-Walter Steinmeier | |
| Member of the Bundestag | |
| Assumed office 1998 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 21, 1950 Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany (now Germany) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Nationality |  Germany |
| Political party | SPD |
| Alma mater | Ludwigsburg University |
| Occupation | Politician, Member of the German Bundestag (MP) |
Rainer Arnold (born 21 June 1950 in Stuttgart) is a German politician and member of the SPD.
Political career
Arnold has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 1998 federal election. He has since been a member of the Defence Committee, and from 2002 he served as the SPD parliamentary group’s spokesperson on defence policy. In addition, he served on the Sub-Committee for Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation between 1998 and 2002.
Since 2002, Arnold has been part of the parliamentary group’s leadership under successive chairmen Franz Müntefering, Peter Struck, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and – currently – Thomas Oppermann. Within the parliamentary group, he was a member of the working group on municipal policy between 2005 and 2013.
Following the 2013 federal elections, Arnold was part of the SPD team in the negotiations with the CDU/CSU on a coalition agreement. He has since served as deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of Thomas Oppermann. In addition, between 2014 and 2015, he represented his parliamentary group in a crossparty committee headed by former defense minister Volker Rühe to review the country’s parliamentary rules on military deployments.[1] He also chairs the German-Romanian Parliamentary Friendship Group.[2]
In his capacity as member of the Defence Committee, Arnold has traveled extensively to visit Bundeswehr troops on their missions abroad, including Kosovo (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2012), Djibouti (2006), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2006), Afghanistan (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014) and Mali (2013, 2014). In January 2015, he accompanied German Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen on a visit to Jordan, where they met with King Abdullah II, among others.[3]
Political positions
Relations with the African continent
Arnold has in the past voted in favor of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in Somalia – both Operation Atalanta (2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015) and EUTM Somalia (2014, 2015 and 2016) –, Darfur/Sudan (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), South Sudan (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), Mali – EUTM Mali (2013, 2014 and 2015) and AFISMA (2013), and MINUSMA (2013 and 2014) –, the Central African Republic (2014) and Liberia (2015). In 2012 and 2013, he voted against extending the mandate for participation in Operation Atalanta.
Veteran affairs
Arnold has in the past fought against the proposal for a Veterans Day in Germany, arguing that “in German tradition, soldiers aren’t heroes, but rather victims. And sometimes they committed crimes.” He held that the breadth of Germany’s social safety net, with its inexpensive health care, relatively generous unemployment benefits and open access to higher education, means that fewer services are needed specifically for soldiers.[4]
Other activities
- Werner Weinmann Foundation, Chairman of the Board
- Europäische Sicherheit & Technik magazine, Member of the Advisory Board
References
- ^ Jan Techau (June 17, 2014), Germany’s Budding Defense Debate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
- ^ Executives of the parliamentary friendship groups and parliamentary friendship representatives in the 18th electoral term Deutscher Bundestag.
- ^ Bundesministerin von der Leyen trifft König Abdullah II. press release of January 11, 2015, German Embassy to Jordan, Amman.
- ^ Michael Birnbaum (April 30, 2012), Germany struggles with homecoming of Afghanistan veterans Washington Post.
External links
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