Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the
chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the
Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As chancellor, he led a
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
of the
SPD and
Alliance 90/The Greens. Since leaving public office, Schröder has worked for Russian state-owned energy companies, including
Nord Stream AG,
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petro ...
, and
Gazprom.
Schröder was a lawyer before becoming a full-time politician, and he served as
Minister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998) before becoming chancellor. Following the
2005 federal election, which his party lost, and after three weeks of negotiations, he stood down as chancellor in favour of
Angela Merkel of the rival
Christian Democratic Union. He is the chairman of the board of
Nord Stream AG and of
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petro ...
, after having been hired as a global manager by investment bank
Rothschild
Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...
, and also the chairman of the board of football club
Hannover 96
Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betw ...
.
After the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
, Schröder was criticized for his policies towards
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
's government, his work for Russian state-owned companies, and his lobbyism on behalf of Russia. On 1 March 2022, Schröder's entire staff including long-time office manager Albrecht Funk resigned due to Schröder's alliances with Russia and Putin directly.
On 8 March 2022 the
Public Prosecutor General initiated proceedings related to accusations against Schröder of complicity in
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
due to his role in Russian state-owned corporations. On the same day his party initiated proceedings to expel him. The
CDU/CSU group demanded that Schröder be included in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
sanctions against individuals with ties to the Putin regime.
Early life and education
Schröder was born in
Blomberg,
Lippe
Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe.
...
, in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. His father, Fritz Schröder, a lance corporal in the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
, was killed in action in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in Romania on 4 October 1944, almost six months after Gerhard's birth. His mother, Erika (née Vosseler), worked as an agricultural labourer to support herself and her two sons.
After the war, the area where Schröder lived became part of West Germany. He completed an apprenticeship in retail sales in a
Lemgo hardware shop from 1958 to 1961 and subsequently worked in a
Lage retail shop and after that as an unskilled construction worker and a sales clerk in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The ori ...
while studying at night school for a general qualification for university entrance (
Abitur). He did not have to do military service because his father had died in the war. In 1966, Schröder secured entrance to a university, passing the
Abitur exam at Westfalen-Kolleg,
Bielefeld. From 1966 to 1971 he studied law at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
.
In 1976, he passed his second law examination, and he subsequently worked as a lawyer until 1990.
[Nadine Chmura, Regina Haunhorst: ]
Biografie Gerhard Schröder.
' In: ''LeMO-Biografien'', Lebendiges Museum Online, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, retrieved 7 December 2019. Among his more controversial cases, Schröder helped
Horst Mahler
Horst Mahler (born 23 January 1936) is a German former lawyer and political activist. He once was a far-left militant and a founding member of the Red Army Faction who later became a Maoist, before switching to neo-Nazism. Between 2000 and 2003, ...
, a founding member of the
Baader-Meinhof terrorist group, to secure both an early release from prison and permission to practice law again in Germany.
Early political career
Schröder joined the Social Democratic Party in 1963. In 1978 he became the federal chairman of the
Young Socialists, the youth organisation of the SPD. He spoke for the dissident
Rudolf Bahro
Rudolf Bahro (18 November 1935 – 5 December 1997) was a dissident from East Germany who, since his death, has been recognised as a philosopher, political figure and author. Bahro was a leader of the West German party The Greens, but became d ...
, as did President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
,
Herbert Marcuse, and
Wolf Biermann
Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song " Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976.
Early life
Biermann was ...
.
Member of the German Bundestag, 1980–1986
In 1980, Schröder was elected to the German
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...
(federal parliament), where he wore a sweater instead of the traditional suit. Under the leadership of successive chairmen
Herbert Wehner (1980–83) and
Hans-Jochen Vogel (1983–86), he served in the SPD parliamentary group. He also became chairman of the SPD
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
district.
Considered ambitious from early on in his political career, it was widely reported and never denied, that in 1982, a drunken Schröder stood outside the
West German federal chancellery yelling: "I want to get in." That same year, he wrote an article on the idea of a red/green coalition for a book at Olle & Wolter, Berlin; this appeared later in ''
Die Zeit''. Chancellor
Willy Brandt, the SPD and SI chairman, who reviewed Olle & Wolter at that time, had just asked for more books on the subject.
In 1985, Schröder met the
GDR leader
Erich Honecker during a visit to
East Berlin. In 1986, Schröder was elected to the parliament of
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
and became leader of the SPD group.
Minister-President of Lower Saxony, 1990–1998
After the SPD won the state elections in June 1990, Schröder became
Minister-President of Lower Saxony as head of an SPD-
Greens coalition; in this position, he also won the 1994 and 1998 state elections. He was subsequently also appointed to the
supervisory board of
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
, the largest company in Lower Saxony and of which the state of Lower Saxony is a major stockholder.
Following his election as Minister-President in 1990, Schröder also became a member of the board of the federal SPD. In 1997 and 1998, he served as
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of the
Bundesrat. Between 1994 and 1998, he was also chairman of Lower Saxonian SPD.
During Schröder's time in office, first in coalition with the environmentalist Green Party, then with a clear majority, Lower Saxony became one of the most deficit-ridden of Germany's 16 federal states and unemployment rose higher than the national average of 12 percent. Ahead of the
1994 elections, SPD chairman
Rudolf Scharping included Schröder in his
shadow cabinet for the party's campaign to unseat incumbent
Helmut Kohl as chancellor. During the campaign, Schröder served as shadow minister of economic affairs, energy and transport.
In 1996, Schröder caused controversy by taking a free ride on the Volkswagen corporate jet to attend the
Vienna Opera Ball, along with Volkswagen CEO
Ferdinand Piëch. The following year, he nationalized a big steel mill in Lower Saxony to preserve jobs.
In the
1998 state elections, Schöder's Social Democrats increased their share of the vote by about four percentage points over the 44.3 percent they recorded in the previous elections in 1994 – a postwar record for the party in Lower Saxony that reversed a string of Social Democrat reversals in state elections elsewhere.
Chancellor of Germany, 1998–2005
First term, 1998–2002
Following the
1998 national elections, Schröder became chancellor as head of an SPD-Green coalition. Throughout his campaign for chancellor, he portrayed himself as a pragmatic ''new'' Social Democrat who would promote economic growth while strengthening Germany's generous social welfare system.
After the resignation of
Oskar Lafontaine
Oskar Lafontaine (; born 16 September 1943) is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998, and was federal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candid ...
as
Leader of the Social Democratic Party in March 1999, in protest at Schröder's adoption of a number of what Lafontaine considered "
neo-liberal" policies, Schröder took over his rival's office as well. In April 1999, in Germany's first session in the restored Reichstag, to applause he quoted Albanian writer
Ismail Kadare, saying: "The Balkans is the yard of the European house, and in no house can peace prevail so long as people kill each other in its yard." In a move meant to signal a deepening alliance between Schröder and Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
of the United Kingdom, the two leaders issued an eighteen-page manifesto for economic reform in June 1999. Titled "Europe: The Third Way", or "Die Neue Mitte" in German, it called on Europe's centre-left governments to cut taxes, pursue labour and welfare reforms and encourage entrepreneurship. The joint paper said European governments needed to adopt a "supply-side agenda" to respond to globalisation, the demands of capital markets and technological change.
Schröder's efforts backfired within his own party, where its left-wing rejected the Schröder–Blair call for cutbacks to the welfare state and pro-business policies. Instead, the paper took part of the blame for a succession of six German state election losses in 1999 for the Social Democratic Party. Only by 2000, Schröder managed to capitalise on the
donations scandal of his Christian Democratic opposition to push through a landmark tax reform bill and re-establish his dominance of the German political scene.
Schröder's tenure oversaw
the seat of government move from
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
. In May 2001, Schröder moved to his new official residence, the
Federal Chancellery in Berlin, almost two years after the city became the seat of the German Government. He had previously been working out of the building in
eastern Berlin used by the former leaders of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
.
Second term, 2002–2005
Throughout the build-up to the
2002 German election, the Social Democrats and the Green Party trailed the centre-right candidate
Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he ...
until the catastrophe caused by
rising floodwater in Germany led to an improvement in his polling numbers. Furthermore, his popular opposition to a war in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
dominated campaigning in the run-up to the polls. At 22 September 2002 vote, he secured another four-year term, with a narrow nine-seat majority down from 21.
In February 2004, Schröder resigned as chairman of the SPD amid growing criticism from across his own party of his reform agenda;
Franz Müntefering succeeded him as chairman. On 22 May 2005, after the SPD lost to the
Christian Democrats
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
(CDU) in
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
, Gerhard Schröder announced he would call federal elections "as soon as possible". A
motion of confidence was subsequently defeated in the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...
on 1 July 2005 by 151 to 296 (with 148 abstaining), after Schröder urged members not to vote for his government in order to trigger new elections. In response, a grouping of left-wing SPD dissidents and the
Party of Democratic Socialism agreed to run on a joint ticket in the general election, with Schröder's rival
Oskar Lafontaine
Oskar Lafontaine (; born 16 September 1943) is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998, and was federal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candid ...
leading the new group.
The 2005
German federal elections were held on 18 September. After the elections, neither Schröder's SPD-Green coalition nor the alliance between CDU/CSU and the FDP led by
Angela Merkel achieved a majority in parliament, but the CDU/CSU had a stronger popular electoral lead by one percentage point. On election night, both Schröder and Merkel claimed victory and chancellorship, but after initially ruling out a
grand coalition with Merkel, Schröder and Müntefering entered negotiations with her and the CSU's
Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he ...
. On 10 October, it was announced that the parties had agreed to form a grand coalition. Schröder agreed to cede the chancellorship to Merkel, but the SPD would hold the majority of government posts and retain considerable control of government policy. Merkel was elected chancellor on 22 November.
On 11 October 2005, Schröder announced that he would not take a post
in the new cabinet and, in November, he confirmed that he would leave politics as soon as Merkel took office. On 23 November 2005, he resigned his
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...
seat.
On 14 November 2005, at a SPD conference in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
, Schröder urged members of the SPD to support the proposed coalition, saying it "carries unmistakably, perhaps primarily, the imprint of the Social Democrats". Many SPD members had previously indicated that they supported the coalition, which would have continued the policies of Schröder's government, but had objected to
Angela Merkel replacing him as chancellor. The conference voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal.
Domestic policies
In his first term, Schröder's government decided to phase out
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
, fund
renewable energies, institute
civil unions for same-sex partners, and liberalise the
naturalization law.
During Schröder's time in office, economic growth slowed to only 0.2% in 2002 and Gross Domestic Product shrank in 2003, while German unemployment was over the 10% mark. Most voters soon associated Schröder with the
Agenda 2010 reform program, which included cuts in the
social welfare system (
national health insurance
National health insurance (NHI), sometimes called statutory health insurance (SHI), is a system of health insurance that insures a national population against the costs of health care. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector ...
,
unemployment payments, pensions), lower taxes, and reformed regulations on employment and payment. He also eliminated capital gains tax on the sale of corporate stocks and thereby made the country more attractive to foreign investors.
After the 2002 election, the SPD steadily lost support in opinion polls. Many increasingly perceived Schröder's
Third Way program to be a dismantling of the German
welfare state. Moreover, Germany's high unemployment rate remained a serious problem for the government.
Schröder's tax policies were also unpopular; when the satirical radio show ''
The Gerd Show'' released "Der Steuersong", featuring Schröder's voice (by impressionist
Elmar Brandt
Elmar Brandt (born 20 September 1971) is a German impressionist, best known for his imitations of politicians. He was born in Düsseldorf.
His most famous series is '' The Gerd Show'', in which actual events are lampooned using an imitation of ...
) lampooning Germany's
indirect taxation, it became Germany's 2002 Christmas #1 hit and sold over a million copies.
The fact that Schröder served on the
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
board (a position that came with his position as
minister-president
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...
of Lower Saxony) and tended to prefer pro-car policies led to him being nicknamed the "Auto-Kanzler" (car chancellor).
European integration
In 1997, Schröder joined the ministers-president of two other German states,
Kurt Biedenkopf
Kurt Hans Biedenkopf (; 28 January 1930 – 12 August 2021) was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU). He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum.
Biedenkopf made a political career firs ...
and
Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he ...
, in making the case for a five-year delay in Europe's currency union. After taking office, he made his first official trip overseas to France for meetings with President
Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister
Lionel Jospin in October 1998. A 2001 meeting held by both leaders in
Blaesheim later gave the name to a regular series of informal meetings between the French President, the German Chancellor, and their foreign ministers. The meetings were held alternately in France and Germany. At the fortieth anniversary of the
Elysée Treaty, both sides agreed that rather than summits being held twice a year, there would now be regular meetings of a council of French and German ministers overseen by their respective foreign affairs ministers. In an unprecedented move, Chirac formally agreed to represent Schröder in his absence at a
European Council meeting in October 2003.
In his first months in office, Schröder vigorously demanded that Germany's net annual contribution of about $12,000,000,000 to the
budget of the European Union be cut, saying his country was paying most for European "waste." He later moderated his views when his government held the rotating
Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 1999.
In 2003, Schröder and Chirac agreed to share power in the
institutions of the European Union
The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union:
* the European Parliament,
* the European Coun ...
between a
President of the European Commission, elected by the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
, and a full-time
President of the European Council, chosen by heads of state and government; their agreement later formed the basis of discussions at the
Convention on the Future of Europe and became law with the entry into force of the
Treaty of Lisbon. Ahead of the
French referendum on a European Constitution, Schröder joined Chirac in urging French voters to back the new treaty, which would have enshrined new rules for the expanded EU of 25 member states and widened the areas of collective action.
Also in 2003, both Schröder and Chirac forced a suspension of sanctions both faced for breaching the European Union's fiscal rules that underpin the
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
– the
Stability and Growth Pact – for three years in a row. Schröder later called for a revision of the
Lisbon Strategy and thereby a retreat from Europe's goal of overtaking the United States as the world's most competitive economy by 2010. Instead, he urged the EU to reform the Pact to encourage growth, and to seek the reorientation of the €100,000,000,000 annual
EU budget towards research and innovation. By 2005, he had successfully pushed for an agreement on sweeping plans to rewrite the Pact, which now allowed EU members with deficits above the original 3% of GDP limit to cite the costs of "the reunification of Europe" as a mitigating factor.
Schröder was regarded a strong ally of Prime Minister
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 July 1946) is a Polish politician. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since July 2019.
From 1989 to 1990 was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' P ...
of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
and supporter of the
2004 enlargement of the European Union. On 1 August 2004, the sixtieth anniversary of the 1944
Warsaw Uprising, he apologised to Poland for "the immeasurable suffering" of its people during the conflict; he was the first German Chancellor to be invited to an anniversary of the uprising. Both Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also supported the
accession of Turkey to the European Union.
Foreign policy
Marking a clear break with the caution of German foreign policy since World War II, Schröder laid out in 1999 his vision of the country's international role, describing Germany as "a
great power
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power i ...
in Europe" that would not hesitate to pursue its national interests. Schröder also continued the established Social Democratic political tradition of
Wandel durch Handel.
Schröder also began seeking a resolution ways to compensate Nazi-era slave labourers almost as soon as he was elected chancellor. Reversing the hard-line stance of his predecessor,
Helmut Kohl, he agreed to the government contributing alongside industry to a
fund that would compensate people forced to work in German factories by the Nazi regime and appointed
Otto Graf Lambsdorff to represent German industry in the negotiations with survivors' organisations, American lawyers and the US government.
Schröder sent forces to
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...
and to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
as part of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
operations. Until Schröder's chancellorship, German troops had not taken part in combat actions since
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. At the beginning of the
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
crisis, Schröder declared in March 2002 that Germany would not take part in the Iraq war without a UN mandate. In the summer of 2002, during the federal election campaign, he proclaimed the "German Way" as an alternative to the "American warmongering" in Iraq and presented Germany as a peace power.
In May 2019 at
WORLD.MINDS
WORLD.MINDS (the foundation officially changed its name from "ZURICH.MINDS" in 2016) is a non-profit foundation set up in June 2008 by Rolf Dobelli. The stated goal of the WORLD.MINDS Foundation is "to create a bridge between the science, business ...
in Belgrade, 20 years to the day after the
bombing of Belgrade by
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
troops, Schröder stated unequivocally that in retrospect, if he had to make the decision again, he would authorize the
aerial bombardment of the former Yugoslavia again. Schröder said that "the easiest solution would be to first accept Serbia into the European Union and then within, as an integral part the EU, find a solution
o the Kosovo issue" With Germany having a long experience with
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
itself, Schröder declared solidarity with the United States after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
in 2001. When Schröder left office, Germany had 2,000 troops in Afghanistan, the largest contingent from any nation other than the United States, UK, France, Canada and after two years Afghanistan.
Relations with the Middle East
During their time in government, both Schröder and his foreign minister
Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fi ...
were widely considered sincerely, if not uncritically, pro-Israel. Schröder represented the German government at the funeral service for List of kings of Jordan, King Hussein of Jordan in Amman on 9 February 1999.
When British planes joined United States forces Bombing of Iraq (1998), bombing
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
without consulting the United Nations Security Council in December 1998, Schröder pledged "unlimited solidarity". But, long with French President
Jacques Chirac and many other world leaders, Schröder later spoke out strongly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and refused any military assistance in that enterprise. Schröder's stance caused political friction between the US and Germany, in particular because he used this topic for his 2002 election campaign. Schröder's stance set the stage for alleged anti-American statements by members of the SPD. The parliamentary leader of the SPD, Ludwig Stiegler, compared US President George W. Bush to Julius Caesar while Schröder's Minister of Justice, Herta Däubler-Gmelin, likened Bush's foreign policy to that of Adolf Hitler. Schröder's critics accused him of enhancing, and campaigning on, anti-American sentiments in Germany. After his 2002 re-election, Schröder and Bush rarely met and their animosity was seen as a widening political gap between the US and Europe. Bush stated in his memoirs that Schröder initially promised to support the Iraq war but changed his mind with the upcoming German elections and public opinion strongly against the invasion, to which Schröder responded saying that Bush was "not telling the truth". When asked in March 2003 if he were at all self-critical about his position on Iraq, Schröder replied, "I very much regret there were excessive statements" from himself and former members of his government (which capitalised on the war's unpopularity).
Relations with Russia
On his first official trip to Russia in late 1998, Schröder suggested that Germany was not likely to come up with more aid for the country. He also sought to detach himself from the close personal relationship that his predecessor,
Helmut Kohl, had with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, saying that German-Russian relations should "develop independently of concrete political figures." Soon after, however, he cultivated close ties with Yeltsin's successor, President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
, in an attempt to strengthen the "strategic partnership" between Berlin and Moscow, including the opening of a gas pipeline from ''Russian Dan Marino-Pipelines'' over the Baltic Sea exclusively between Russia and Germany (see #Gazprom, "Gazprom controversy" below). During his time in office, he visited the country five times.
Schröder was criticised in the media, and subsequently by Angela Merkel, for calling Putin a "flawless democrat" on 22 November 2004, only days before Putin prematurely congratulated Viktor Yanukovich during the Orange Revolution. In 2005, Schröder suggested at the ceremonial introduction of the Airbus A380 in Toulouse that there was still "room in the boat" of EADS for Russia.
Only a few days after his chancellorship, Schröder joined the board of directors of the Nord Stream joint venture, thus bringing about new speculations about his prior objectivity. In his memoirs ''Decisions: My Life in Politics'', Schröder still defends his friend and political ally, and states that "it would be wrong to place excessive demands on Russia when it comes to the rate of domestic political reform and democratic development, or to judge it solely on the basis of the Chechnya conflict." Schröder's continued close connection to Vladimir Putin and his government after his chancellorship has been widely criticized in Germany.
Relations with China
During his time in office, Schröder visited China six times. He was the first Western politician to travel to Beijing and apologise after NATO jets had United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. In 2004, he and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao established a secure, direct telephone line. He also pressed for the lifting of the EU arms embargo on China.
After chancellorship
Representative role
After leaving public office, Schröder represented Germany at the funeral services for Death and state funeral of Boris Yeltsin, Boris Yeltsin in Moscow (jointly with Horst Köhler and
Helmut Kohl, 2007) and Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba (jointly with Egon Krenz, 2016).
Schröder and
Kurt Biedenkopf
Kurt Hans Biedenkopf (; 28 January 1930 – 12 August 2021) was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU). He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum.
Biedenkopf made a political career firs ...
served as mediators in a conflict over privatization plans at German railway operator Deutsche Bahn; the plans eventually fell through. In 2016, he was appointed by Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel to mediate (alongside economist Bert Rürup) in a dispute between two of Germany's leading retailers, Edeka and REWE Group, over the takeover of supermarket chain Kaiser's Tengelmann.
Following the release of German activist Peter Steudtner from a Turkish prison in October 2017, German media reported that Schröder had acted as mediator in the conflict and, on the request of Gabriel, met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to secure the release. After the 2018 Turkish presidential election, 2018 elections in Turkey, he represented the German government at Erdoğan's swearing-in ceremony in Ankara.
Business activities
Schröder's plans after leaving office as chancellor and resigning his Bundestag seat included resuming his law practice in Berlin, writing a book, and implementing plans for twin pipelines for Gazprom, Russia's leading energy company. He was subsequently retained by the Swiss publisher Ringier AG as a consultant. Other board memberships include the following:
* Nord Stream 1, chairman of the Shareholders' Committee (since 2006)
* CargoBeamer, member of the advisory board
* China Investment Corporation (CIC), member of the international advisory board
* N M Rothschild & Sons, member of the European Advisory Council (since 2006)
* Herrenknecht, deputy chairman of the supervisory board (2017–2022)
*
Hannover 96
Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betw ...
, chairman of the supervisory board (2016–2019)
* TNK-BP, member of the international advisory board (2009)
Other activities
In addition, Schröder has held several other paid and unpaid positions since his retirement from German politics, including:
* Berggruen Institute, member of the Council for the Future of Europe and the 21st Century Council.
* Bundesliga Foundation, member of the board of trustees
* German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), member of the advisory council
* Dresden Frauenkirche, member of the board of trustees
* Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), Member
* Mädchenchor Hannover Foundation, member of the board of trustees
* Museum Berggruen, member of the international council
* German Near and Middle East Association (NUMOV), honorary chairman of the board
* Wilhelm Busch Museum, chairman of the board of trustees (since 2013)
* InterAction Council of Former Heads of State and Government, Member
* International Willy Brandt Prize, member of the jury
Criticism and controversies
Relationship with Russian companies
As chancellor, Gerhard Schröder was a strong advocate of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline project, which planned to supply Russian gas directly to Germany, thereby bypassing transit countries.
At the time of the 2005 German federal election, German parliamentary election, according to Rick Noak of ''The Washington Post'':
On 24 October 2005, just a few weeks before Schröder stepped down as chancellor, the German government guaranteed to cover 1 billion euros of the Nord Stream project cost, should
Gazprom default on a loan. However, this guarantee had never been used.
Soon after stepping down as chancellor, Schröder accepted Gazprom's nomination for the post of the head of the shareholders' committee of
Nord Stream AG, raising questions about a potential conflict of interest.
German opposition parties expressed concern over the issue, as did the governments of countries over whose territory gas is currently pumped. In an editorial entitled ''Gerhard Schroeder's Sellout'', the American newspaper ''The Washington Post'' also expressed sharp criticism, reflecting widening international ramifications of Schröder's new post. Democrat Tom Lantos, chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, likened Schröder to a "political prostitute" for his recent behaviour. In January 2009, the ''Wall Street Journal'' reported that Schröder would join the board of the oil company TNK-BP, a joint venture between oil major BP and Russian partners.
In 2016, Schröder switched to become manager of Nord Stream 2, an expansion of the original pipeline in which Gazprom is sole shareholder.
In 2017, Russia nominated Schröder to also serve as an independent director of the board of its biggest oil producer
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petro ...
.
[Maria Kiselyova (12 August 2017)]
Russia nominates German ex-chancellor Schroeder to Rosneft board
Reuters. At the time, Rosneft was under Western sanctions over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.
Schröder told ''Blick'' that he would be paid about $350,000 annually for the part-time post. His decision caused an outcry in Germany and abroad, especially in a climate of fear about any potential Russian interference in the 2017 German federal election, 2017 German elections. German Chancellor of Germany, Chancellor
Angela Merkel criticized her predecessor, saying "I do not think what Mr Schröder is doing is okay".
In 2022, Schröder was nominated to the board of directors of Gazprom.
Especially as tensions between Russia and NATO mounted before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Schröder's stance as a "Putin understander" was criticized. Schröder criticized the behaviour of the western countries as "saber rattling". ARD journalist Georg Schwarte stated that Schröder would no longer be "a former chancellor. At best", he would be an "ex-chancellor with a sense of money." The current chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said "I don't want his advice."
In 2022, it was reported that Schroeder was paid nearly $1 million per year by Russian energy companies.
2002 defamation lawsuit
In April 2002, Schröder sued the DDP press agency for publishing an opinion of public relations consultant Sabine Schwind saying that he "would be more credible if he didn't dye his gray hair". The court decided to ban the media from suggesting that he colours his hair. The Chancellor's spokesman said: "This is not a frivolous action taken over whether he does or doesn't dye his hair, but is a serious issue regarding his word." The agency's lawyer said that they could not accept a verdict which "does not coincide with freedom of the press".
2007 dispute over Estonian war memorial
During a heated dispute between Russia and Estonia in May 2007 over Bronze Night, the removal of a Soviet-era war memorial from the centre of the Estonian capital Tallinn to a military cemetery, Schröder defended the Kremlin's reaction. He remarked that Estonia had contradicted "every form of civilised behaviour". Consequently, the Estonian government cancelled a planned visit by Schröder in his function as chairman of Nord Stream 1 AG, which promotes the petroleum pipeline from Russia to Germany.
2008 comments on Kosovo independence
Schröder has criticised some European countries' swift decision to recognise Kosovo as an independent state after it 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, declared independence in February 2008. He believes the decision was taken under heavy pressure from the US government and has caused more problems, including the weakening of the so-called pro-EU forces in Serbia.
Comments on South Ossetia and Crimean crisis
In August 2008, Schröder laid the blame for the 2008 South Ossetia war squarely on Mikhail Saakashvili and "the West", hinting at American foreknowledge and refusing to criticize any aspect of Russian policy which had thus far come to light.
In March 2014, Schröder likened Russia's 2014 Crimean crisis, intervention in Crimea with NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, citing both cases as violations of international law and the UN Charter. He further stated that there had been "unhappy developments" on the outskirts of the former Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War, leading Putin to develop justifiable "fears about being encircled".
On 13 March 2014, an attempt by the German Green Party to ban Schröder from speaking in public about Ukraine was narrowly defeated in the European parliament. His decision to celebrate his 70th birthday party with Putin in Saint Petersburg's Moika Palace, Yusupov Palace in late April elicited further criticism from several members of Merkel's grand coalition, including human rights spokesperson .
Paradise Papers
In November 2017, an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited his name in List of people and organisations named in the Paradise Papers, the list of politicians named in "Paradise Papers" allegations.
2022 suit against German Parliament
In 2022, Schröder filed a suit with the Berlin administrative court against the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...
that seeks to reinstate his privileges as former chancellor, appealing the decision to close his office and reallocate its remaining staff.
Filmography
Television
Personal life
Schröder has been married five times:
* Eva Schubach (married 1968, divorced 1972);
* Anne Taschenmacher (married 1972, divorced 1984);
* Hiltrud "Hillu" Hampel (married 1984, divorced 1997);
* Doris Köpf (married 1997, divorced 2018);
* (married 2018)
Doris Köpf had a daughter from a previous relationship with a television journalist. She lived with the couple. In July 2004, Schröder and Köpf adopted a child from Saint Petersburg. In 2006, they adopted another child from Saint Petersburg.
Schröder rents an apartment in Berlin while retaining his primary residence in Hanover. As a former chancellor, he is entitled to a permanent office, also situated in Berlin. In late 2005, he spent time in the UK improving his English language skills. In 2013, Schröder and Köpf purchased another home in Gümüşlük, Turkey, in a real estate project developed by Nicolas Berggruen.
Schröder's fourth marriage earned him the nickname "Audi Man", a reference to the four-ring symbol of Audi motorcars. Another nickname is "The Lord of the Rings".
Schröder married for the fifth time in 2018. His wife is the Korean economist and interpreter Kim (Korean surname), Kim So-Yeon. Schröder's fifth marriage has earned him the nickname "Olympic Man", a reference to the five-ring symbol of the Olympic Games.
Schröder identifies himself as a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany, but does not appear to be religious. He did not add the optional phrase ''So wahr mir Gott helfe'' ("so help me God") when sworn in as chancellor for his first term in 1998.
Schröder is known to be an avid art collector. He chose his friend Jörg Immendorff to paint his official portrait for the German Chancellery. The portrait, which was completed by Immendorff's assistants, was revealed to the public in January 2007; the massive work has ironic character, showing the former chancellor in stern heroic pose, in the colors of the German flag, painted in the style of an icon, surrounded by little monkeys. These "painter monkeys" were a recurring theme in Immendorff's work, serving as an ironic commentary on the artist's practice. On 14 June 2007, Schröder gave a eulogy at a memorial service for Immendorf at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
Awards and honours
Honours
National honours
* :
Grand Cross 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1999)
Foreign honours
* :
Order of the Golden Fleece (Georgia), Order of the Golden Fleece (2000)
* :
Order of the White Eagle (Poland), Order of the White Eagle (2002)
* :
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania (2004)
* :
Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of Queen Jelena, "for exceptional merit in the recognition of Croatia and the support of Croatia on the road to the EU". (2007)
* :
Order of the White Lion (2017)
Other honours
* In 2000, Schröder receive the Deutscher Medienpreis in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg.
* In 2007, Schröder receive the Quadriga (award), Quadriga Prize in Berlin.
* On 28 May 2008, Schöder was elected as corresponding member of the Department of Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Honorary degrees
* On 30 December 2002, Schröder was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Tongji University in Shanghai.
* In June 2003, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the St. Petersburg University.
* On 4 April 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Marmara University in Istanbul.
* On 14 June 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The ori ...
, Lower Saxony.
* On 17 June 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Damascus in Damascus, Syria.
* In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Urbino in Urbino, Italy.
Rescinded honours
* On 24 February 2006, Schröder became an honorary citizen of his hometown of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. In March 2022, in response to his collusion with Russia and
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
, the city council of Hanover initiated proceedings to strip Schröder of his honorary citizenship. Shortly before the formal vote to strip him of the honorary citizenship, Schröder countered by writing the mayor that he relinquished the honorary citizenship "for eternity."
Bibliography
* Gerhard Schröder and Ulrich Wickert: ''Deutschland wird selbstbewusster''. Hohenheim-Verlag, 2000, .
See also
* Politics of Germany
References
Further reading
* Béla Anda, Rolf Kleine: ''Gerhard Schröder. Eine Biographie''. Ullstein, Berlin 1996, (updated 2nd edition Ullstein, 2002, ).
* :de:Jürgen Hogrefe, Jürgen Hogrefe: ''Gerhard Schröder: Ein Porträt''. Siedler Verlag, Berlin 2002, .
* :de:Reinhard Urschel, Reinhard Urschel: ''Gerhard Schröder''. DVA, 2002, .
* :de:Gregor Schöllgen, Gregor Schöllgen: ''Gerhard Schröder. Die Biographie''. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2015, .
External links
Official homepage of Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Schröder on Facebook*
''Deutsche Welle'', July 2005
Profile: Gerhard Schroeder ''BBC News'', July 2005
''Der Spiegel Online'', 14 October 2005
Gerhard Schröder: The Man Who Rescued the German Economyby Raymond Zhong, Wall Street Journal, 7 July 2012
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schroder, Gerhard
Gerhard Schröder,
1944 births
Living people
20th-century Chancellors of Germany
21st-century Chancellors of Germany
People from Blomberg, North Rhine-Westphalia
People from the Free State of Lippe
German Lutherans
Presidents of the German Bundesrat
Chancellors of Germany
Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony
Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005
Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002
Ministers-President of Lower Saxony
N M Rothschild & Sons people
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
University of Göttingen alumni
Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class
Recipients of the Order of the White Lion
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania
Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
People named in the Paradise Papers
Politicians affected by a party expulsion process