Even before the war in Ukraine, the former chancellor was criticized for his lobbying posts.
(Photo: IMAGO/SNA)
Berlin According to his own statements, ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder renounced his nomination for the supervisory board of the Russian energy company Gazprom a long time ago. He also informed the company of this, said Schröder on Tuesday evening on the online portal “Linkedin”. The authenticity of the contribution was confirmed to the German Press Agency from its environment.
Gazprom confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the former Chancellor had been nominated for the Russian company’s supervisory board. Schröder is a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine with a military attack. President Putin is the driving force behind the invasion.
Schröder gave up his position on the supervisory board of the Russian energy company Rosneft last week. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had previously asked Schröder to resign from his other mandates.
Before Schröder’s waiver of his mandate on Tuesday evening, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) sharply criticized his party friend Gerhard Schröder: “Sticking to the previous mandates was stubbornness, accepting a new mandate on the supervisory board of a Russian energy company would be a provocation,” Weil told the Handelsblatt.
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Weil referred to the war in Ukraine, which began three months ago with a Russian attack on the neighboring country. Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives since the war began. “In such a situation, commitment to a company that is undeniably important to the Russian state is out of the question,” Weil said. The state-controlled Gazprom group is one of Moscow’s most important suppliers of foreign exchange.
The 78-year-old has been accused across party lines of filling highly paid positions in Russian state-owned companies, even though Russia is at war with Ukraine. In addition, his involvement would undermine the plans of the European Union, which is trying to impose sanctions on the Russian economy. This is supposed to weaken Putin’s war machine.
Because of his commitment to Russia, Schröder also lost the privileges previously enjoyed by the former German chancellors. The budget committee of the Bundestag decided last week that the office of the 78-year-old with four employees will be wound up. The European Parliament wants to put Schröder on the list of sanctions against oligarchs.
With agency material.
More: G7 idea: Russian oligarchs can buy their way out of sanctions with their billions