The European Parliament has called for sanctions against former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder because of his business and political ties to Russia.
The Parliament voted Thursday to extend sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine to “European members of the boards of major Russian companies and politicians who continue to receive Russian money.”
Schröder, who led the German government from 1998 to 2005, now works for the pipeline company Nord Stream and Russia’s Gazprom, and has been chastised for his connections.
The EU parliament’s call for sanctions follows a decision by Berlin to cut back Schröder’s special rights as an ex-chancellor.
Schröder’s party, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) proposed on Wednesday that he be stripped of his state-funded office and staff. These are some of the advantages that former chancellors have when it comes to continuing their political careers.
According to the proposal, “the budgetary committee notes that former Chancellor Schröder no longer performs any duties resulting from his former office.”
It is unthinkable, according to FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner, that a former chancellor who is now “openly lobbying for Vladimir Putin’s criminal rule is still given an office by taxpayers.”
The majority of Schröder’s office staff, on the other hand, has long resigned or been transferred to other positions in parliamentary business. Albrecht Funk, his longtime office manager and speechwriter, who had worked with Schröder for two decades, left him in March.
However, the 78-year-old former chancellor is unlikely to lose his pension, which amounts to around €100,000 (roughly $105,000) per year.
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Schröder has always maintained that his ties to Putin provide a valuable channel of communication with Russia’s leader. However, a March visit to Moscow did not change Putin’s course of action in Ukraine. He has since offered to use his contacts to try to broker some sort of new negotiations.
