Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) decided that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder will remain a party member, despite his personal ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and business links to Russian energy companies.
The Hanover District Arbitration Commission rejected an appeal against an earlier decision, which had found Schröder not guilty of violating party rules.
The ruling argued that he did not violate statutes, principles or the order of the party, or is guilty of a dishonorable act or has disregarded intra-party solidarity. “This cannot be established with sufficient certainty,” the ruling said.
And in some aspects, the arbitration commission lent Schröder its full-throated backing.
The text added that while it’s possible “top German politicians have misjudged the dangers of dependence on Russian energy supplies over the past 25 years,” Schröder was exempt from blame.
In a note that will likely spark criticism, it said that accusing Schröder of such a misjudgment goes “too far,” and added that “at least before the start of the Russian war of aggression and in the first weeks after it began — he was largely guided by the desire to use his connections to end the war.”
In a statement, party members who wanted Schröder booted out said they regret the decision in favor of the former chancellor — who ran Germany between 1998 and 2005 — and urged him to leave the party voluntarily. They will discuss yet another appeal to this decision, one of the members told POLITICO. However such a move is considered unlikely.
Schröder has faced strong blowback for his continued ties to Russia, which have included seats on the boards of Russian energy companies, and for his bromance with Putin, who he has met twice since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
The German parliament in May last year stripped Schröder of some of his allowances as a former chancellor, including his office space and staff, a decision Schröder is having reviewed legally.
“I am and I will stay Social Democrat,” Schröder said last year with regard to the procedure — and he was right.
