The German government plans to reverse the advantages, including the allocation of offices, granted to the former Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, close to Vladimir Putin, the Minister of Finance said on Saturday.
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It is "no
longer conceivable that an office be made available to him by the taxpayer
" to the former Chancellor (1998-2005), explains Christian Lindner in the newspapers of the Funke group.
"
We should draw the consequences
" of Gerhard Schröder's refusal to put an end to his responsibilities in several Russian groups and to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
400,000 euros per year for taxpayers
As former Chancellor, he still has the right to several offices in the Chamber of Deputies and to a budget for personnel.
A privilege, which costs 400,000 euros per year to taxpayers.
"
Former holders of high-level positions, who are clearly on the side of criminal governments, cannot count on the support of the state
", asserts Christian Lindner.
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The benefits granted to Gerhard Schröder could thus be reduced in the context of the upcoming debates on the 2023 budget. “
It would be wise to standardize the equipment of former holders of high-level positions and reduce it over time.
In this context, we should also talk about a kind of code of honor with regard to behavior
,” adds Christian Lindner, chairman of the liberal FDP party, a member of the coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A bulky figure
The pressure is growing around Gerhard Schröder, 77, deprived of honorary distinctions by several cities and targeted by calls for his ousting from the social democratic party SPD.
He has become a cumbersome figure, including for the current head of government, Olaf Scholz, whose mentor he was.
The controversy had rebounded again after an interview broadcast last weekend by the New York Times, in which Gerhard Schröder affirmed that he had no intention in the state of renouncing his mandates in Russian companies, and that he would not do so. only if Moscow were to stop its gas supplies to Germany.
A scenario he said he did not believe.
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Most of the former European leaders present before the war in Ukraine in the governing bodies of Russian companies have since resigned.
The former chancellor is chairman of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG, the controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany which does not have a license to operate, and chairman of the supervisory board of Rosneft, Russia's leading oil group.
Germany has long practiced the policy of reaching out to Russia, following the idea that the development of trade would induce a gradual democratization of the country.
