Berlin 19 Mar (ANA) - The candidate named by Germany's Social Democrats to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel, Martin Schulz, has vowed to fight populism if his party wins the elections due in September. At an SPD party meeting in Berlin, he denounced Eurosceptics and the "racist" rhetoric of US President Donald Trump. The convention unanimously confirmed Mr Schulz as the candidate who will lead the Social Democrats to the election. It has been the junior partner in Germany's "grand coalition" since 2013. The party hopes that Mr Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament, will boost its chances of governing without Mrs Merkel's CDU. Opinion polls suggest the Social Democrats trail the CDU, although Mr Schulz's personal rating compares favourably with that of Mrs Merkel, who plans to run for a fourth term.(ANA)

FA/ANA/19 March 2017------