Despite his close ties to the Kremlin, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is allowed to remain a member of the German Social Democrats. A committee within the SPD already decided in March that Schröder would not be punished, but some local branches appealed against it. That party’s federal arbitration board now rules that appeal is inadmissible. With that the case is closed.
The SPD committee “could not establish with sufficient certainty” that Schröder had violated party statutes, principles or rules, or that he had engaged in a dishonorable act, it said in March.
It is possible, the committee wrote, that senior German politicians “have misjudged the dangers of dependence on Russian energy supplies over the past 25 years”. That also applies to other politicians, inside and outside the party, it still sounds. “However, it is going too far to accuse Schröder of such an error of judgment.”
Close ties with Putin
Schröder has long been criticized for his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian oil and gas industry. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that criticism only increased.
In May last year, a few months after the start of the war in Ukraine, he decided under pressure to give up his board position at the energy company Rosneft. He also waived a similar position at Gazprom. The former chancellor once called Putin a “flawless democrat”. Schröder was Chancellor from 1998 to 2005.
Party Congress
The current party leadership has long emphasized that the former head of government is isolated within the party, but how they will deal with him is still unclear. The top will have to make a decision on this by the end of this year: then the party will hold a congress, and normally all former chairmen, including Schröder, are invited to attend. At that congress, the party will also make decisions about its foreign policy, and therefore also its attitude towards Russia.
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