It is a unique action in the history of the Federal Republic: Gerhard Schröder is suing the Bundestag for the withdrawal of his special rights. Is it about his lost honor?
It should be a special week even for an experienced politician like Gerhard Schröder. On Monday, the SPD arbitration commission in his home subdistrict, the Hanover region, rejected his expulsion from the party because it could not be proven that Schröder’s commitment to Russian state-owned companies violated party rules.
Now the former chancellor is even going on the offensive. In a process that is unique in German history, Schröder is suing the Berlin administrative court against the decision of the Bundestag budget committee and is demanding the return of the special rights that were partially revoked from him in May – above all his office and the right to his own employees.
“Such decisions, which are more reminiscent of an absolutist princely state in terms of the way they came about, must not last in a democratic constitutional state. The decision is arbitrary,” writes Schröder’s Hanoverian lawyer Michael Nagel in one of the German Press Agency present statement.
A star lawyer for the political-legal battle
And further: “Those responsible determined new rules to legitimize the now contested decision. However, clarifying the underlying facts in advance, at least according to their own new standards, was not worth the effort. Instead, it is claimed that former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder takes the so-called ” Subsequent official duties” are no longer true. However, it is not specified what “subsequent official duties” actually are, how their perception or non-perception is to be determined and what procedure is otherwise to be observed.”
The whole process is “written on the forehead” that there are other reasons and that the arguments of the Bundestag budget holders are only put forward.
The Hanover criminal defense lawyer Nagel is a tried and tested star lawyer in political and legal battles. In another sensational case, he defended former Federal President Christian Wulff, who was accused of corruption. The process ended for Wulff in 2014 with an acquittal, but his reputation remained damaged.
Outlawed as “Gas-Gerd”
In Schröder’s case, that’s an understatement. The former chancellor is ostracized as a “Putin friend” and as “Gas-Gerd” because of his supervisory posts in the Russian energy industry. And not just since the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine on February 24.
The pressure on the federal government and the Bundestag to take action against Schröder was constantly growing. When the European Parliament called for sanctions against Schröder with a large majority in May, the budget committee of the Bundestag also acted. The parliamentarians cleverly enacted a blanket regulation that could also affect future chancellors: former chancellors who no longer fulfill any obligations from their office should no longer be given an office.
The result for Schröder: He was allowed to keep his pension of around 8,300 euros as well as personal security and driving service. But the office was taken away from him by the deputies. At the time, Schröder’s employees had run away anyway to protest against their boss’s attitude. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), once Schröder’s SPD general secretary, welcomed the measure as “logical”. Schröder announced the lawsuit, which has now been filed.
“What should I apologize for?”
It is the next act in a play that has so far only known losers. Schröder fights for his honor, his reputation. The Federal Government and Bundestag would like to make him forget. But media professional Schröder knows how to prevent this, most recently in a sensational interview with the magazines “stern” and RTL/n-tv. There he asked provocatively: “What should I apologize for?”
At the same time, he pointed out that the friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which both parties have not revoked, could still be important for mediating a possible ceasefire. Scholz can hardly imagine that: “I don’t know,” he said on Thursday at his summer press conference in response to journalists’ questions.
In his “stern” interview, Schröder also gleefully analyzed Germany’s dependency on Russian energy, which was much higher than during his tenure (“only 35 percent at the time”), before he ordered pizza for himself and the reporters, which his security officials would pick up had to. The title with Schröder was the best-selling magazine for a long time, is confirmed by publishing circles.
Schröder will probably not get the lost honor back
This demonstrative self-confidence of the 78-year-old makes crisis managers boil in political Berlin. His successor in office, Olaf Scholz, tries hard to exude leadership. Hardly a day goes by without a Scholz visit to a factory site of the energy industry. Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is working on relief packages worth billions for worried citizens, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is a traveling salesman when it comes to gas.
The motto of the traffic light coalition has long since ceased to be: “The pension is secure” but: “Everyone will be warm in winter.”
Schröder, however, influences the current political debate more than probably all former chancellors before him in their respective times. He probably won’t get the lost honor back, but satisfaction – he could get it in court.
Source: Stern
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