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Former Chancellor Schröder (archive photo)
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
It is only a symbolic step, but one with a signal effect: the city of Hanover wants to withdraw honorary citizenship from former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD).
The management committee decided to initiate the corresponding procedure, the city announced.
The reason given for this was that »former Chancellor Schröder no longer shares the values and goals of the state capital due to his ongoing business connections with Russian state-owned companies«.
However, Schröder should be given the opportunity to comment before his honorary citizenship is revoked.
"The council and the city do not take quick shots in questions of honorary citizenship and do not make frivolous decisions," said Mayor Belit Onay (Greens).
A decision is to be made at the next council meeting on March 31.
"I regret that Gerhard Schröder does not see himself in a position to draw the necessary personal and business conclusions from Putin's war of aggression," Onay said.
“I therefore welcome the fact that Council policy has now fundamentally positioned itself in favor of former Chancellor Schröder becoming an honorary citizen.” The administrative process for revoking honorary citizenship is thus “immediately initiated”.
The head of the town hall had previously suggested that the former chancellor renounce his honorary citizenship.
The council of the Lower Saxony state capital deals responsibly with honorary citizenship, he told ZDF on Thursday afternoon.
At the moment, however, he cannot see this responsibility in Schröder.
"That's why I'm suggesting that he end his dependence on Putin on the one hand, but also give up his honorary citizenship.
His demeanor is not that of an honorary citizen,' Onay said.
SPD leader Klingbeil sees Schröder isolated within the party
Schröder has long been criticized for his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He is the head of the supervisory board at the Russian state energy company Rosneft and also has management positions in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline projects. Last Thursday he called on the government in Moscow to end the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible.
But there was no talk of personal consequences.
In addition, Schröder claimed mistakes “on both sides”.
According to SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil, the former chancellor is completely alone in his party because of his ties to Russia.
In a meeting of the SPD board with the state council, it became clear that Schröder was "completely isolated," said Klingbeil.
There is no one who "even remotely approves of" Schröder's behavior or justifies it.
However, the party leadership did not initially take any concrete steps against Schröder.
Klingbeil and the SPD co-chair Saskia Esken pointed out that they had written to the ex-chancellor asking him to resign his mandates at Russian energy companies.
There is still no answer to that, said Klingbeil.
We are now waiting for this and then deciding how to proceed.
However, he pointed out that an arbitral tribunal in the Hanover region was already dealing with a party order procedure against Schröder.
asc/dpa/AFP