Olaf Scholz and the SPD leadership congratulate Gerhard Schröder on his 80th birthday. He will celebrate privately in Berlin on April 27th.
The guest list is still being kept under wraps. He was Chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and chairman of the SPD from 1999 to 2004. He did not break off his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia's attack on Ukraine and continued to work as a lobbyist for the Russian energy industry. However, a party expulsion procedure against him filed by several SPD branches failed last year.