Status: 08/12/2022 06:48 a.m
Former Chancellor Schröder wants his Berlin office back: The SPD politician is suing against the decision of the Bundestag to cut the funds for it and for employees. His privileges were withdrawn in May.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) has filed a lawsuit against the Bundestag with the Berlin Administrative Court. The 78-year-old demands that a former chancellor’s office with employees be made available to him again. This was confirmed by his Hanoverian lawyer Michael Nagel of the dpa news agency.
According to a statement by the law firm, the decision of the Bundestag Budget Committee to cut Schröder’s funds for equipping his office in the Bundestag and to put the office on hold is illegal. It is “claimed that former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder no longer takes on the so-called ‘after-effects’ official duties”. “However, it is not specified what ‘after-effects official duties’ actually are, how their perception or non-perception is to be determined and what procedure is otherwise to be observed”.
Russia contacts not grounds for judgment
The former chancellor has been heavily criticized for his commitment to Russian energy companies and his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the Budget Committee did not justify the partial cancellation of Schröder’s privileges with his work for the energy companies or his attitude to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Rather, the “equipment of former chancellors should be carried out according to the ongoing obligations from the office,” says the regulation.
Apparently, the parliamentarians could not see this in Schröder. They issued a blanket regulation that could also apply to future chancellors: former chancellors who no longer perform any duties from their office should no longer be given an office.
400,000 euros for office and staff
Last year, more than 400,000 euros flowed from the state coffers for personnel expenses in Schröder’s office. Schröder will continue to receive his pension of 8,300 euros after the decision, as well as personal security. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) welcomed the decision in May as logical. In the context of the decision, the European Parliament had spoken out in favor of sanctions against Schröder with a large majority.
SPD associations want Schröder’s party expulsion
It was only on Monday that the SPD arbitration committee in Schröder’s hometown of Hanover rejected the expulsion of the former chancellor from the party. However, several SPD associations are seeking an appeal against the decision. The decision met with unanimous incomprehension, said Pierre Orthen, chairman of the Württemberg SPD local association in Leutenbach.
Above all, Schröder’s work for Russian state companies such as the mineral oil company Rosneft and his lack of distance from the Russian attack on Ukraine are still seen by many SPD associations as damaging to the party. Schröder is also considered a close friend of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.