Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder looks "with composure" at the SPD's internal proceedings on party expulsion applications against him.

"I am and will remain a social democrat," said Schröder of the FAZ. His involvement in the Russian energy industry had not previously met with criticism in the SPD.

This also applies to Nord Stream 1 and 2 and the federal governments led by the CDU.

Mona Jaeger

Deputy Editor-in-Chief for News and Politics Online.

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In recent months, especially after Russia's attack on Ukraine, almost all top representatives of the SPD have distanced themselves from former Chancellor Schröder.

Party leader Saskia Esken asked him to leave the party at the end of April.

"Schroeder makes his living working for Russian state companies, and his defense of Vladimir Putin against war crimes charges is downright absurd."

There are several applications for a corresponding procedure for party expulsion;

there should be a first consultation on this in a week and a half in the sub-district of Hanover.

The motions relate to Schröder's posts at Russian energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft.

Schröder does not comment on Rosneft's withdrawal

Even though many SPD politicians are now distancing themselves from Schröder, there have been close contacts in recent years.

Schröder appeared at an SPD party conference in Dortmund in 2017 at the invitation of then chancellor candidate Martin Schulz and gave an almost twenty-minute speech in which he criticized the United States and praised Russia.

At the beginning of 2022 there was also a meeting with Schulz, who is now chairman of the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Matthias Platzeck and Johann Saathoff, the former Federal Government Commissioner for Russia.

“As far as contacts with the SPD are concerned, I have no reason to complain.

It's not my business whether one or the other would rather forget that," Schröder told the FAZ

Schröder had recently announced that he was giving up his position on the board of directors of the Russian energy company Rosneft;

he will not join Gazprom's supervisory board as originally planned.

He did not want to comment on the reasons.

In business, it is "absolutely unusual" to give reasons other than those responsible in the company, Schröder told the FAZ

Schröder announced his connection to the SPD.

“I have never voted for anything other than SPD in my political life.

That will remain so in the future, even if one or the other of the SPD leadership is making it very difficult for me at the moment.” For him, “Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis” (“Times are changing, and we change in them”) but “Nunguam retrorsum” (“Never go back”).