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Rainer Arnold

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Citizenship
  
German

Name
  
Rainer Arnold

Nationality
  
Germany

Role
  
German Politician

Political party
  
SPD

Education
  
Ludwigsburg University


Rainer Arnold

Born
  
June 21, 1950 (age 73) Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, West Germany (now Germany) (
1950-06-21
)

Occupation
  
Politician, Member of the German Bundestag (MP)

Party
  
Social Democratic Party of Germany

Profiles


Alma mater
  
Ludwigsburg University

Rainer arnold peace and security through law


Rainer Arnold (born 21 June 1950 in Stuttgart) is a German politician and member of the SPD.

Contents

Political career

Arnold was first elected a member of the German Bundestag in the 1998 federal election. During his time in parliament, he was 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.

From 2002, Arnold was part of the parliamentary group’s leadership under successive chairmen Franz Müntefering, Peter Struck, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and 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. He also chairs the German-Romanian Parliamentary Friendship Group.

In his capacity as member of the Defence Committee, Arnold 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.

In September 2016, Arnold announced that he would not stand in the 2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

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, 2015 and 2016), South Sudan (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016), 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.

Other activities

  • Werner Weinmann Foundation, Chairman of the Board
  • Europäische Sicherheit & Technik magazine, Member of the Advisory Board
  • German Association for Defence Technology (DWT), Member of the Presidium
  • Personal life

    Arnold is married and has one son.

    References

    Rainer Arnold Wikipedia