He used to be a figurehead, with which the party liked to adorn itself. In the meantime, ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has become a torment to the SPD because of his closeness to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. Party leader Saskia Esken wants Schröder to finally draw consequences himself.
After his well-received interview in the “New York Times”, SPD leader Saskia Esken suggested that former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder leave the SPD. Resigning from his mandates at Russian companies “would have been necessary to save his reputation as a former and once successful chancellor. And unfortunately he didn’t follow that advice,” Esken said on Deutschlandfunk on Monday morning. “Gerhard Schröder has been operating as a businessman for many years, and we should stop treating him as an elder statesman, as a former chancellor. He makes his living working for Russian state companies, and his defense of Vladimir Putin against war crimes charges is downright absurd .” When asked whether Schröder should resign from the party, Esken said: “He should.”
Schröder has been heavily criticized in Germany for not giving up his posts at Russian energy companies despite the Russian attack on Ukraine. The SPD leadership has long distanced itself from Schröder. Esken and her co-chairman Lars Klingbeil had written to him at the end of February asking him to resign from his position at the state-owned company. The answer they requested “promptly” does not yet exist.
Schröder defends Putin
In an article published in the New York Times on Saturday, Schröder advocated maintaining relations with Russia despite the war of aggression against Ukraine. The 78-year-old did not comment on the details of a conversation he held with Putin in Moscow in March. Schröder said: “What I can tell you is that Putin is interested in ending the war. But that’s not that easy. There are a few points that need to be clarified.” Regarding the massacre in the Kiev suburb of Butscha, Schröder says: “It has to be investigated.” However, the newspaper quotes him as saying that he does not believe that the orders came from Putin, but from lower levels.
Schröder is the chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian state energy giant Rosneft and chairman of the shareholders’ committee of the pipeline company Nord Stream. He is also still entered in the relevant commercial register as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nord Stream 2 AG.
Source: Stern
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