Status: 07/14/2022 06:54 a.m
Former Chancellor Schröder has been heavily criticized for his closeness to Russia’s President Putin. Starting today, a possible exclusion from the party will be negotiated for the first time. But the chances of success are slim.
The SPD sub-district Region Hannover is negotiating for the first time a possible party expulsion of former chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The party received 17 corresponding applications that meet the formal criteria, said the managing director of the SPD district in Hanover, Christoph Matterne. However, a decision by the arbitration commission is not yet expected, and a party exclusion is also considered unlikely within the SPD for legal reasons.
The hearing in the Kurt Schumacher House will take place in public and should last several hours. Schröder himself reportedly does not want to appear in person. The former Chancellor (1998 to 2005) has been criticized for years for his commitment to Russian state-owned companies and is considered a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Against the background of the Ukraine war, the pressure on him continued to increase.
Schröder wants to keep in touch with Putin
Finally, in May, Schröder announced that he was leaving the board of directors of the Russian energy giant Rosneft. He also turned down a nomination for a board position at Gazprom. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” reported a few days ago that Schröder wants to maintain his contact with Putin despite the Russian war of aggression. “I will not give up my opportunities to talk to President Putin,” said the former chancellor.
According to the report, Schröder said he did not believe in a military solution in Ukraine and asked why the focus was on arms supplies. “The war can only be ended through diplomatic negotiations,” he was quoted as saying.
Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin in Hanover in 2004
Image: dpa
Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil Schröder’s statements about the Ukraine war do not go far enough. He told the dpa news agency: “Unfortunately, Gerhard Schröder has not yet spoken out with the necessary clarity against Russia’s brutal, unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. I personally very much regret that.”
Up to two further instances possible
With regard to the motions to exclude Schröder from the party, Weil explained that it was appropriate to deal with the matter in a regular procedure: “There is an arbitration commission in the SPD that acts according to the principles of the rule of law.” The arbitration commission of the SPD sub-district Hannover region is responsible for the party organization procedure because Schröder is a member of the associated SPD local association Oststadt-Zoo. After the sub-district, up to two further instances are possible: the SPD district of Hanover and the SPD Federal Arbitration Commission.
Schröder is not the first SPD member against whom expulsion proceedings have been initiated. Most recently, former Berlin Finance Senator Thilo Sarrazin was expelled from the party in 2020 after a two-year process. Similar procedures had previously been carried out against Wolfgang Clement and today’s left-wing politician Klaus Ernst.