Dhe former SPD chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who is controversial because of his contacts with Russia, will probably lose a large part of his special rights. The SPD, Greens and FDP want to cut Schröder’s office and employees. The office should be wound up and the remaining staff should take on other tasks, according to the traffic light coalition’s application for the budget committee, which is to be decided on Thursday. Several media had previously reported about it. Schröder should only be allowed to keep his pension and personal security.
The coalition does not go quite as far as the Union, which also wants to take away Schröder’s pension because of his contacts with Russia. Schröder harms Germany’s international reputation, the Union justifies. Despite the war in Ukraine, he has still not distanced himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin and is also sticking to his posts in various Russian energy companies.
The traffic light coalition are more cautious in their proposal. They don’t mention Schroeder’s stance on Russia and Putin at all – although that may be the real reason for the cap. The fear: The whole thing could look like a politically arbitrary Lex Schröder and thus be legally vulnerable. The impression should not arise that the former chancellor is being punished for a controversial opinion.
SPD parliamentary group defends action
The parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, defended the approach of leaving Schröder’s pension untouched. The salary is about property claims, Mast said on Wednesday in Berlin. “That’s why it’s highly questionable constitutionally.”
SPD, Greens and FDP now want to regulate the alimony of former Chancellors and Presidents in general. So far, after their term of office, they have not only received a pension that depends on the term of office, but also an office with several employees, a driver and reimbursement of travel expenses for life. The coalition partners now want to make this equipment dependent on whether the former top politicians actually still take on tasks, such as having patronage and giving speeches.
“In the future, the equipment for former chancellors should no longer be status-related, but based on the ongoing obligations from the office,” said the budget holders of the parliamentary groups on Wednesday. And they made it clear: “Gerhard Schröder no longer accepts any ongoing obligations from his office as former Federal Chancellor. This eliminates the need for the former Federal Chancellor to be equipped with staff and premises.”
Schröder is “only active as a lobbyist for Russian state-owned companies, no longer on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany,” said Green Housekeeper Sven-Christian Kindler. There is therefore no longer any reason to finance his office and employees at state expense.
Schröder was Chancellor from 1998 to 2005. He then took on tasks for the pipeline company Nord Stream, Russia’s Gazprom and the energy company Rosneft, among others. Because he did not distance himself from this after the beginning of the war, the SPD leadership asked him to leave the party. There are also motions for expulsion from the party.
Such a general reorganization of the equipment of former chancellors should also set standards for former Chancellor Angela Merkel and at some point also for Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Merkel only moved into her former chancellor’s office a few months ago. She was granted nine employees with salaries of up to 10,000 euros. That’s two more than Schröder had after his chancellorship in 2005 – and four more than last worked for him. The Budget Committee decided in 2019 that former chancellors should only have five employees. However, this will only apply in the future when Scholz is no longer in office.
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