The dispute continues: Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder wants to keep his office in the Bundestag and is appealing against the judgment of the Berlin Administrative Court in May.
The dispute over the office of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) in the Bundestag will continue to occupy the judiciary. The 79-year-old has appealed against the judgment of the Berlin Administrative Court. Now the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Berlin-Brandenburg will deal with the case. When this will be, however, is not yet foreseeable, said a court spokeswoman on Tuesday at the request of the DPA news agency. Schröder’s lawyer Michael Nagel announced immediately after the verdict that he would advise his client to appeal.
At the beginning of May, the administrative court rejected Schröder’s lawsuit against a decision by the budget committee of the Bundestag, as a result of which the office was closed. According to the judgment, the former chancellor has no right to an office to carry out tasks from the previous office.
Gerhard Schröder criticized for contacts with Russia
It has been common state practice for more than 50 years to make an office available after the end of office. However, this does not result in a claim. The court was convinced that Parliament’s budget sovereignty, which is constitutionally guaranteed, spoke against this. Schröder cannot invoke the principle of equal treatment either. The establishment of such an office is based solely on public interest, because it is about the performance of public tasks. “The arbitrariness of the suspended position of the former Chancellor’s office is cemented,” lawyer Nagel commented on the verdict at the time.
Schröder was chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and party leader of the SPD from 1999 to 2004. In May 2022, the Budget Committee decided to close its office in the Bundestag. The reason given was that the former chancellor no longer took on any obligations in connection with his previous work.
Schröder had previously been heavily criticized for his ties to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including within his own party. Several of his employees resigned after the Russian attack on Ukraine. However, his connections to Russian corporations or Putin were not mentioned in the motion approved by the budget committee. Before the administrative court, it was unclear whether this might have played a role for the committee.
Source: Stern
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