because he is a somewhat unknown face for many of our viewers, let us take a closer look at who martin schulz is and a bit about his career. schulz can be friendly will go on the attack when he has to. and he works hard. a former bookseller or made it to the top of the european political structure, schulz served in the european parliament for more than 20 years and then became its president. in 2003, schulz had a run-in with italian prime minister berlusconi. >> mr. schulz, in italy right now they are shooting a film about a nazi concentration camp. you would make a great camp guard. >> schulz is not afraid to stand up for his principles. members he angered some are talking about the rights of palestinians. two years later, he upset china by meeting the dalai lama. but does martin schulz have what it takes to beat angela merkel? melinda: we heard alan posener say this is just more of the same, but in fact martin schulz is known for speaking his mind, for being direct. he's very popular in germany. many people see him as perhaps more authentic than the former party leader. what do you think, d

so is martin schulz. you have these two defenders running from the same office in germany. is that a good move in this era of skepticism? melinda: martin schulz said the social democratic party has done the work against populism and right-wing nationalism. and he intends to make it run in the selection. -- in this election. i will be doing it without bashing the eu because europe is the absolute fundament of foundation. doing the ordinary -- telling the ordinary man, the working man. why he is protected in germany and we will make the lives of his children stable and better. a clear message for exactly that point. brent: our chief political correspondent. thank you so much. time to go to the movies. a good old-fashioned musical tops the list of nominations for the 89th academy awards. the crowdpleasing "la la land" ties the records of only two other films. in the running for best picture, best original screenplay. best original song. stars emma stone and ryan gosling were nominated for best actress and actor. who could possibly beat la la land with its 14 nominations? one m

we found martin schulz very dictatorial.the back benches... will the new chap be helpful or unhelpful on brexit? i voted for him in the last round because he promised to listen to all of the parliament, especially to the conservative reformist group and he promised to play a neutral tone on brexit, to allow the negotiation... although, part of the deal is that guy verhoftstadt, stays as the chief negotiator and he has been strengthened. and what gianni pittella was offering... let me finish. he was saying that he would take a verhofstadt off the negotiations. in terms of british interest, it would have been better, given guy verofstadt's position on the uk... that is the belgian federalist? he is the leader of one of the groups. he has an agreement now with the centre—right grouping the epp, to change the direction of the eu. they want a european coastguard. a new governance for the eu. a european defence force... that is why. hold on. and also a european intelligence and investigation capacity. so if that's the way that the

as martin schulz exited stage left, the changing of the guard at european parliament is completed. two italians, but it started off as a contest divided up it started off as a contest divided up between six candidates. after three rounds of voting, it was down to gianni patella on the left and antonio tajani on the right. in the end, mr antonio tajani came out on top. this is a clean sweep for the centre—right on the eu. the commission is headed up byjuncker and tusk, all in the eep. we were not able to win. but we fought strongly in case the knobbly... and we will fight again and again and again. —— monopoly. we will fight again and again and again. -- monopoly. is antonio tajani? he is a familiar face. again. -- monopoly. is antonio tajani? he is a familiarface. but he cut his teeth as a spokesman for the former prime minister of italy, silvio berlusconi. he is a coalition builder. he is a very honest person. he keeps his word. you can feel it, all the different groupings in the european parliament, if you ask them, in particular, members of parliament, what they would say about

martin shields has become a symbol of hope for the spd practically overnight -- martin shields -- martin schulzhe has one message he wants to get across -- make social democrats great again. >> the spd wants to lead this country, but again -- of course, that means we want to fill the position of chancellor of germany. >> shields -- schulz set the tone today for his upcoming campaign. the social democrats want to be once more seen as the party that fights for social justice and sides with ordinary. a strategy designed to position the party against angela merkel but also to regain ground lost to right-wing parties. the relief within the spd parliamentary group could not have been greater today. >> we believe that the nomination of martin schulzwill be a successful starting point for the upcoming elections. he is highly credible and is someone who understands the problems of ordinary people and who speaks their language. on sunday, schulz will be officially proclaimed candidate for chancellor. >> we have heard that margitin schulz wants to ensure the spd is the protective barrier against enemies o

if if martin schulz does well, he can't form a government alone. essentially they're in the same pickle they've been in for the last eight years. >> exactly the same scenario. slightly different, but the same. >> yeah. >>> let's turn our attention to italy. theirs is more straightforward. italy's constitutional court began a hearing to assess the legitimacy of the electoral law. the ruling, which is expected later today, could influence the timing of new elections. former prime minister matteo renzi introduced the legislation known as italicum saying it would bring stability to italy. the court is likely to reject parts of the reform. >>> the republicans in france, the presidential candidates for the republican party, francois fillon is said to be outraged by reports that his wife had been paid by him for fictitious employment. reports in french media said the presidential front-runner's wife was paid 500,000 euros over eight years to work as an assistant for her husband when he was a lawmaker but did little to earn her salary. >>> president donald

martin schulz is running against angela merkel.aking to a crowd of supporters in berlin, he spoke out about germany's role in europe. politics is germany's domestic politics, and germany's domestic politics influenced europe, and if this is confronted, it is another sin against the future chances of our children and the following generation. still with us is stephen we beand stephen, should worried about the election outcomes in europe? i mean, in germany, we are probably just as well off in terms of the markets, with chultz as we are with merkel. >> the french elections in may. and the reason why the french elections are so important is obviously, you have got marine le pen as a candidate. she's not in any way ahead in the opinion polls, but the current position in the opinion polls is actually not so do similar from the -- dissimilar from the position trump found himself in in the same period of his election and how the brexiteers found themselves before the u.k. referendum. what the market is beginning to say is we are not 100%

the rival social democrats have emerged with a reenergized challenger, martin schulz.s a substantial lead. jeremy corbyn is defending his did the ashes decision for triggering brexit. he tells any member of his if theyip team that refuse they will be expected to resign. global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more i am taylorntries, riggs. this is bloomberg. tom? francine? francine: thank you so much. let's go back to top stories of the global follow-up from -- the global fallout from trump's travel ban. still with us in new york, julian emanuel of ubs. thank you so much for joining us. when you listen to president trump's words, he has been saying it over and over again. this is not about religion, it is about terror and keeping our country safe. how is it interpreted in the all,e east? >> first of with kind of disbelief, francine, and from my own perspective, it is unusual, given the background of basically calling a country under suspicion. it is interesting. the general commentary coming , saying thatrs this is really quite