A withdrawal of honorary citizenship in Hanover is coming much closer for former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The city administration should initiate a procedure to revoke the honorary citizenship.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, 77, should no longer be an honorary citizen of Hanover. The city announced on Thursday. In a meeting on Thursday, the management committee decided that the city administration should initiate a corresponding cancellation procedure for Schröder’s honorary citizenship. However, the former chancellor will be given the opportunity to comment, according to a statement.
The management committee had come to the conclusion that Schröder “no longer shared the values and goals of the state capital due to his ongoing business connections with Russian state-owned companies”. Hanover’s Lord Mayor Belit Onay, 41, explained in a statement that honorary citizenship “is not about quick fixes and […] no easy decisions”.
The decision should be made at the end of March
Onay regrets “that Gerhard Schröder does not see himself in a position to draw the necessary personal and business consequences from Putin’s war of aggression”. At the same time, he welcomes “the fact that Council policy has fundamentally positioned itself in favor of honorary citizenship for former Chancellor Schröder.” According to the announcement, the decision should then be taken at the upcoming council meeting on March 31, 2022.
The Borussia Dortmund sports club had previously withdrawn Schröder’s honorary membership. The German Football Association (DFB) had given the former chancellor an ultimatum. “We wish very much that our honorary member Gerhard Schröder […] before the DFB Bundestag on March 11th, he will give up his functions in Russian state-owned companies or, if he is not prepared to do so, give up his honorary membership in the DFB,” said a statement.
Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the former chancellor has been increasingly criticized for his attitude towards Vladimir Putin, 69. The Russian President is regarded as a longtime friend of Schröder. In addition, the former Chancellor is, among other things, the head of the supervisory board of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft.
Source: Stern
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