Sawt Falasteen - Scholz, rival trade blows as German election campaign kicks off

Weeks after his three-way coalition collapsed in acrimony, and lagging behind in the polls, the Social Democrat Scholz vowed to defeat the current frontrunner Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democrats (CDU).

"Some have already written us off," Scholz told his SPD party faithful, before pledging a similar comeback at the February 23 vote to one that led him to victory three years ago when he took over from Angela Merkel.

Merz, for his part, launched a withering attack on Scholz's failed alliance with the Greens and Free Democrats, accusing it of having driven Europe's biggest economy to the wall through ineptitude and over-regulation.

He slammed the "messed up and wrongheaded" policies that were leading the economy into its second year of downturn, with many big companies shedding jobs.

Merz, a millionaire and former investment fund board member, said that only strong and prosperous companies can create economic growth and employment -- "otherwise all the dreams ... will burst like soap bubbles".

- Ukraine war -

On Ukraine, Scholz pledged sustained support for the fight against Russia but also a prudent course that would prevent NATO and Germany being drawn directly into the conflict.

Under Scholz, Germany has become the second-biggest arms supplier to Ukraine but has refused to send Kyiv long-range missiles that could strike deep inside Russia.

Scholz said Merz "wants to present the nuclear power Russia with an ultimatum ... that if Putin does not do what Germany wants then from tomorrow onwards German missiles will be fired deep into Russia".

"All I can say is: be careful with Germany's security, you don't play Russian roulette," said Scholz, who is campaigning under the label of "peace chancellor".

But Scholz also condemned Germany's pro-Russian far-right and far-left parties who would seek a "graveyard"-like peace under Moscow's terms.

He said only his SPD "clearly supports Ukraine and at the same time ensures that we are not drawn into the war".

"In matters of war and peace, you need a cool head and a firm stance," Scholz added, while condemning "sharp-tongued" fringe party leaders and the "unpredictable opposition leader".

- Flagging economy -

Merz, at his own event, demanded a "fundamental change" in economic policy, without "this green-tinted interventionism in every area of life, in every company, in every industry".

He railed against "monstrous bureaucracy" hobbling companies and people at the national and EU levels, singling out a recent "nonsense" idea from Brussels to ban smoking outdoors.

Scholz slammed the CDU's demand for lower corporate taxes as "always the same recipe, no matter what is going on in the world".

"It reminds me of a doctor who always prescribes his patients the same pills no matter if they have a cough or a broken foot," said Scholz.

Scholz repeatedly pointed at Merz's personal wealth and promised to champion the working man. He advocated stable pensions, a raise of the minimum wage, and tax breaks for 95 percent of earners but a tax rise for the richest one percent.

Scholz also evoked the legacy of Merkel, the more centrist CDU predecessor and party rival of Merz, a traditional conservative.

"The Merz CDU has nothing to do with the Merkel CDU," charged Scholz. "Its social wing has been completely marginalised."

- Irregular migration -

The two candidates also outlined sharply different visions on immigration, a flashpoint issue that has fuelled support for the far-right Alternative for Germany, now polling near 20 percent.

Merz vowed that "we must do everything to further reduce illegal migration to Germany" and reiterated his demand that those with no chance to gain asylum be pushed back at Germany's borders.

Scholz condemned as "lies" claims that he had failed to act on irregular migration and charged that Merz is "only concerned with the election campaign and not with humanity and order".

Scholz also said that Merz had failed "to accept the reality that Germany has long been an immigration country" where one quarter of people have a migrant background.

Merz warned that, unless a new government can restore prosperity and stability, then by the next elections in 2029 "the populists from the far left and the far right -- especially the latter -- will become the majority in our parliament."

B.AbuZeid--SF-PST