The former Chancellor is coming under increasing pressure in the Ukraine crisis.
(Photo: imago/localpic)
Berlin Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) loses his longtime office manager and speechwriter Albrecht Funk. After more than 20 years, Funk is turning its back on its boss, the news portal “The Pioneer” and the “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung” reported on Tuesday. Three other employees of the SPD politician would also give up their posts.
Funk confirmed to the Reuters news agency “that the four employees in the office have asked to return to work in other functions”. He did not want to comment on the reasons.
According to “Pioneer”, the attitude of the former Chancellor to Russia’s attack on Ukraine was said to have been decisive. Funk is said to have advised Schröder to distance himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the weekend, the SPD leadership asked Schröder to give up his posts in Russian companies.
The former chancellor, who is considered a longtime friend of Putin, is the head of the supervisory board at the Russian state energy company Rosneft. In addition, the social democrat has leading positions in the pipeline projects Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 – both natural gas pipelines through the Baltic Sea connect Russia and Germany.
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The pending commissioning of Nord Stream 2 has now been put on hold by the federal government. Schröder was also recently nominated for the supervisory board of the Russian state gas company Gazprom.
Schröder office manager has the right to return to the Federal Chancellery
Most recently, the former chancellor attracted attention because he criticized Ukrainian demands for arms deliveries as “saber rattling” before Russia attacked Ukraine. In a post on the LinkedIn social network, he then condemned the Russian war of aggression and demanded that it “be ended as soon as possible”.
However, with the restriction that mistakes were made “on both sides”. Schröder avoided words like “attack” or “invasion” in his statement. Nor did he mention Putin himself.
According to the “Pioneer” report, Schröder’s former office manager, Funk, has the right to return to the Federal Chancellery. It remains to be seen whether the chancellery will approve new staff for the former chancellor.
Last year, 407,000 euros flowed from the state coffers for personnel expenses in Schröder’s office. This emerges from a response from the Chancellery to a request from the left-wing faction, which is available to the Handelsblatt. The expenses relate to the payment of employees in Schröder’s office.
According to the federal government, a salary of B6 is planned for the office manager position, i.e. around 10,400 euros per month. Depending on their professional experience, the other employees earn between 13,700 and 19,400 euros a month.
CSU praises Schröder employees
The CSU welcomed the departure of Schröder employees from the former chancellor. “After the Russian attack on Ukraine, the office staff show more backbone than Mr. Schröder,” said the financial and budgetary policy spokesman for the CSU state group, Sebastian Brehm. “Mr. Schröder has gambled away all moral credit by holding on to the lucrative post by Putin’s grace. It is now time for the SPD to take action as well.”
Brehm also spoke out in favor of not filling the vacant positions in the Schröder office. “In view of Schröder’s position in the war against Ukraine, now is the right time to close his former chancellor’s office,” said the CSU politician.
With agency material
More: Follow the current developments in the Ukraine war.