Former chancellor with connections to Russia
“My party has lost its compass: Gerhard Schröder is shooting against the SPD
There is a thick atmosphere between former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his SPD
© Michael Kappeler / DPA
There is an ice age between Gerhard Schröder and the SPD leadership because of his friendship with Kremlin leader Putin. Before his 80th birthday, the former chancellor lashed out violently against his party’s leadership.
The former chancellor and SPD politician was criticized because of his Russia connections Gerhard Schröder has sharply criticized the current state of his party. “What really makes me sad is the provincialism of the current leadership figures,” Schröder told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “That’s not the SPD. If I had been at 15 percent, I would have resigned immediately.”
He criticized the fact that the SPD was once a party that looked after the working middle class. “Today she’s more concerned with welfare recipients.” He continued: “Many people get the impression that in Berlin they care more about gender, cannabis and things like that. My party has lost its compass.”
Gerhard Schröder and the SPD: a broken relationship
Schröder turns 80 on Sunday. He has been friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin since his chancellorship from 1998 to 2005 and continues to work for the majority Russian companies on the Nord Stream pipelines through the Baltic Sea. Although Schröder described the Russian attack on Ukraine as a “fatal mistake,” he did not break away from Putin.
The SPD leadership therefore excluded him, but a party expulsion procedure against Schröder failed. Party leader Saskia Esken said last year that she could no longer recognize Schröder as a former chancellor or former party leader. “I see him as a businessman pursuing his business interests.”
In an interview with the German Press Agency, Schröder recently said that he believes that he still “lives in the middle of social democracy.” It is known that he does not have a particularly close relationship with the current party leadership. “But you don’t have to have it to remain a social democrat.”