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Former Chancellor Schroeder
Photo: Christoph Soeder / picture alliance / dpa
In the party order proceedings against Gerhard Schröder, a first decision is imminent.
According to SPIEGEL information, the decision of the arbitration commission of the SPD sub-district Hanover is to be published next Monday.
The committee is expected to formulate the decision in writing on Friday.
However, the decision does not mean that the process is over yet.
The parties involved can then appeal within two weeks.
Should this happen, the proceedings would continue before the higher instances of party jurisdiction.
This could take many months.
Schröder has repeatedly stated that he wants to remain a member of the SPD and is relaxed about the regulatory proceedings.
In fact, the legal hurdles for a party penalty or even an exclusion are very high.
This is another reason why many leading comrades are extremely skeptical as to whether the procedure has any chance of success.
According to the SPD, the case against Thilo Sarrazin showed how difficult it is to exclude someone.
Only at the third attempt did the party succeed in expelling the former Berlin finance senator.
17 applications for party order proceedings against Schröder had been received from the SPD.
The former chancellor has been criticized for years for his close ties to Russia, particularly for his commitment to Russian energy companies.
Schröder decided in May to give up his position on the board of directors of Rosneft and also announced that he would not take up an offer on the board of the Russian gas company Gazprom.
Nevertheless, the ex-Chancellor continues to be criticized because, in the opinion of many party members, he did not sufficiently distance himself from Russia even after the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Well-known SPD members such as Karl Lauterbach had called for Schröder's expulsion from the party, arguing that the behavior of the former chancellor was damaging to the party.
Many other SPD leaders had asked Schröder to leave the party himself, including party leader Saskia Esken.
Schröder recently traveled to Moscow.
His wife told SPIEGEL that her husband was holding "discussions about energy policy" there.
The former chancellor had previously been to the Russian capital in March.
cte/ulz
