Rainer Arnold (born 21 June 1950) is a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and member of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

Political career

Arnold was first elected a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

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 Franz Müntefering (; born 16 January 1940) is a German politician. He was Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 2004 to 2005 and again from 18 October 2008 to 13 November 2009. He served as the minister of Labour and Social Affairs, ...

, Peter Struck,

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...

, and

Thomas Oppermann Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann (27 April 195425 October 2020) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From October 2017 until his death he served as Vice President of the Bundestag. In his earlier career, he serv ...

. 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

. In addition, between 2014 and 2015, he represented his parliamentary group in a crossparty committee headed by former defense minister

Volker Rühe Volker Rühe (born 25 September 1942) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as German Defence minister from 1 April 1992, succeeding Gerhard Stoltenberg during the first government of a reunified Germany i ...

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 The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

troops on their missions abroad, including

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

(2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2012),

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

(2006),

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(2006),

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

(2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014) and

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

(2013, 2014). In January 2015, he accompanied German

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

on a visit to

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, where they met with

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Abdullah II Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين , translit=ʿAbd Allāh aṯ-ṯānī ibn al-Ḥusayn; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of t ...

, among others.Bundesministerin von der Leyen trifft König Abdullah II.
press release of January 11, 2015, German Embassy to Jordan, Amman. In August 2014 during

's tenure as

, Arnold was extremely unhappy with the state of readiness of the Bundeswehr, and stated that "we are currently unable to meet the commitments we have made to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

." He was "also annoyed again, because an attempt was made y the armed forces and ministryto whitewash and make excuses... Decisions must be made so that weapons projects, which have been in the pipeline for a long time, will finally be put back on the track." 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.

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 Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

– both

Operation Atalanta Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, is a current counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, that is the first naval operation conducted by the E ...

(2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015) and

EUTM Somalia The European Union Training Mission Somalia (EUTM Somalia) is a training operation for the Somali Armed Forces conducted by military officials from European Union states. Operations On 10 April 2010, the European Union launched a military traini ...

(2014, 2015 and 2016) –, Darfur/Sudan (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016),

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

(2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016),

–

EUTM Mali EUTM Mali (European Union Training Mission in Mali) is a European Union multinational military training mission headquartered in Bamako, Mali. 22 EU members (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece ...

(2013, 2014 and 2015) and AFISMA (2013), and

MINUSMA The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (, MINUSMA) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. MINUSMA was established on 25 April 2013 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2100 to stabilise t ...

(2013 and 2014) –, the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

(2014) and

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

(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 Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...

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.Michael Birnbaum (April 30, 2012)
Germany struggles with homecoming of Afghanistan veterans
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''.

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

External links

*
Biography by German Bundestag
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Rainer 1950 births Living people Politicians from Stuttgart German Protestants Members of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany