Schröder about Kühnert: “An imp”
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert is expected at a ceremony in Bremen today to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the SPD in the city. Kühnert now made headlines with the announcement that he would not congratulate former Chancellor and SPD leader Gerhard Schröder on his birthday. Schröder will be 80 years old the day after tomorrow.
Schröder is criticized within his own party and elsewhere because of his lobbying work for Russian energy companies and his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The journalist Lucas Stratmann made an interesting and depressing film for Schröder's 80th birthday, which can now be seen in the ARD media library. The film has this one theme: how Schröder became an outsider because of his attitude towards Putin.
In the film, Schröder repeatedly brushes off the criticism he is confronted with and acts as if it doesn't bother him, even as if it fits logically into his life's path. Actually, as Schröder puts it, he was always an outsider. That's not entirely wrong, the Hartz laws he initiated were highly controversial in his party. And yet: A Federal Chancellor as someone who has always been unrecognized? As a self-image, that's a bit wrong.
Especially when the documentary is about Kühnert, it becomes clear that Schröder is probably not as calm as he initially seems. Kühnert is “a poor wretch, nothing more,” says Schröder. In any case, there are “poor characters” at the top of the SPD.
Someone isn't hurt at all. So really not at all. Zero. Nada. Niente.
More background: A look into Gerhard Schröder's world
Scheuer is receiving criticism again
The days after Easter were quiet domestically, at least considering how loud it had been in the weeks before: strikes, farmers' protests, ever new swan songs for the traffic lights.
However, what happens on quiet days is noticed particularly carefully. Did the cabinet members struggle with tears of emotion when they saw how exuberantly the partial legalization of cannabis they initiated was celebrated at the Brandenburg Gate on Monday? Get cheered once – and then the news will show it in prime time!
It was probably rather unfortunate for the former Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer that he announced that he would be leaving the Bundestag in these days of all days. He received a lot of criticism. Not because he's leaving now, but because he has professional plans that somehow follow on from his work in the last Merkel cabinet. As transport minister, you are responsible for important sectors of the economy, and he has now apparently founded two companies and is planning a career as a management consultant.
As my colleagues Sven Becker and Nicola Naber found out, formally everything is okay: Scheuer complied with the 18-month waiting period that applies to those who change sides. The transparency organization Lobbycontrol is now calling for a three-year waiting period for former government members before they can take on a job in business.
Andreas Scheuer, the most controversial minister in the previous government, is once again being used as a negative example.
More background: Scheuer is said to have founded two new companies before the Bundestag closed
Maddie case: “Very dangerous type”
The trial against Christian B. at the Braunschweig Regional Court is actually about three rapes and two cases of sexual abuse of children in Portugal. The allegations are serious enough. But the proceedings are causing an international stir for another reason, namely because of the alleged connection to a globally known criminal case: Christian B. is suspected of having murdered the missing Madeleine McCann, known as "Maddie", from Great Britain.
The crucial clue about Christian B. in the Maddie case comes from a witness who just testified in Braunschweig.
My colleague Julia Jüttner, a court reporter for SPIEGEL, reported on his first statements the day before yesterday. He warned friends about Christian B.: "The guy is extremely dangerous!"
The trial continues today. However, this particular witness will not testify again until June. Another companion of Christian B is expected today. But he describes himself as B.'s friend, which is why my colleague expects his statements to be more formal: "The witness should primarily provide information about how Christian B. lived and, above all, what he made a living from," says my colleague . B. is said to have gotten into hotel rooms and holiday apartments and robbed tourists.
More background: What speaks in favor of the Maddie suspect's guilt - and what speaks against it
Read the current SPIEGEL editorial here
Christian Lindner's dangerous course:
Does the FDP leader want to provoke the end of the traffic light coalition? It would be hugely stupid.
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Today's starting question: Which of these politicians was most often a candidate for chancellor in federal elections?
Winner of the day…
...is Wolfgang Schäuble. He no longer lives to see his memoirs published. But he managed to complete it despite a serious illness shortly before his death in December 2023. That was incredibly important to him, according to those around him. My colleague Sebastian Hammelehle published the work on Monday with the simple title “Memories. My life in politics” (Klett-Cotta) can already be read. According to my colleague, it is the “self-portrait of the minister as a broken hero.”
Like so many men of his generation, the CDU politician lived out in his career the harshness towards himself that was instilled in boys in the post-war years. That's why he was one of the typical absent fathers of the 1970s and 1980s.
What is surprising is who Schäuble praises in his memoirs: the SPD chancellors Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, who were fiercely opposed by the CDU and CSU in their time. He also apparently has warm words for CDU Prime Minister Helmut Kohl, who ultimately prevented Schäuble from becoming chancellor.
And what about Schröder? According to my colleague, Schäuble considered it “insubstantial”.
According to Schäuble's memories, Stoiber is said to have planned Merkel's downfall
The latest reports from the night
Macron defends singer Aya Nakamura against racist attacks:
Aya Nakamura is one of the most successful French singers and may appear at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris. President Macron is now countering right-wing agitators.
EU ambassador criticizes castration law - Madagascar demands dismissal:
The abuse of children in Madagascar can be punished with surgical castration - to the horror of the EU ambassador to the country. Now the country wants to get rid of them.
Thieves steal $30 million from a cash vault:
They broke through the wall and roof, then cracked the safe and escaped with $30 million: Thieves managed a cinematic break-in into a cash vault in the San Fernando Valley.
I would particularly like to recommend this story to you today:
“War is an enemy of human reproduction”:
The birth rate in Ukraine has been falling since the Russian attack on the country began. Uncertainty about the future and the absence of many men fighting on the front lines contribute to this. My colleague Alexander Kauschanski visited a reproductive clinic in Kiev. There, soldiers can freeze their sperm for free. And he spoke to a couple who used it and have now had twins.
I wish you a good start to the day.
Yours, Susanne Beyer, author of the editor-in-chief