ex-politician
Much criticism of Schröder’s commitment to Russia’s gas
Gerhard Schröder is to receive a post on the board of directors of the Russian energy company Gazprom. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
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Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has long been closely involved in the Russian gas business. Now he should get another post. The calls for consequences are getting louder.
Criticism of former SPD chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s commitment to Russian gas deals continues. After the FDP and CSU, the taxpayers’ association is also demanding consequences for the equipment to which the 77-year-old is entitled as former chancellor.
“I appeal to Mr. Schröder to give up his state-provided office, employees and company car,” said the Vice President of the Taxpayers’ Association, Michael Jäger, the “Bild-Zeitung”. “He lobbies for Russian business interests with tax-financed German infrastructure.” Sharp criticism also came from the Greens and the CDU.
The Russian energy giant Gazprom announced on Friday that Schröder had been nominated for the supervisory board of the state-owned company Gazprom. The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for June 30th. Schröder is a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and recently made headlines with pro-Russian statements during the crisis between Moscow and the West. The ex-Chancellor is Chairman of the Shareholders’ Committee of Nord Stream AG and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nord Stream 2 AG. Both gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea connect Russia and Germany. Schröder is also the head of the supervisory board at the Russian state energy company Rosneft.
Merz: “Schröder has lost decency”
CDU leader Friedrich Merz increasingly sees Schröder as a burden on German politics. “Unfortunately, Gerhard Schröder has lost his footing and decency. I now find his personal dependence on Russia unpleasant and tasteless, »said Merz of the «Bild am Sonntag». “He also uses conversation channels that could have been used with him for our country.” He expects Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the SPD leadership “to clearly distance themselves from Schröder’s activities”.
The Greens member of the Bundestag Claudia Müller told the “Bild-Zeitung” that it was once again becoming clear whose interests Schröder represents – “those of the Russian oligarchy around Putin. That should have consequences.”
The Union chairman in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU), suspects the Kremlin’s calculations behind Schröder’s nomination for the Gazprom supervisory board. Schröder’s nomination “can also be seen as a move by Russia to split the German government’s position on stopping Nord Stream 2 as a potential sanction and thus to discredit Germany as a whole,” he told the “Handelsblatt”.
Former chancellors and former federal presidents are entitled to offices and staff in Berlin. On Friday, the parliamentary secretary of the CSU in the Bundestag, Stefan Müller, spoke out in favor of withdrawing Schröder’s office. The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann also commented accordingly on Twitter.