Germany set to close ex-chancellor’s office

BERLIN (Reuters) – Gerhard Schroeder’s publicly funded office is to be closed and its remaining staff reallocated amid mounting dismay at the former German chancellor’s refusal to distance himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It is custom for all Germany’s leaders to get a state-funded office when they leave government, but the three parties that make up current Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition have agreed to a parliamentary motion to close Schroeder’s.

They have taken the decision after his refusal to condemn Putin, whom he still calls a close personal friend despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

German media says Schroeder, 78, earns sums from Russian stateowned energy firms that dwarf the 400,000 euros the German state spends on his office.

“The budgetary committee observes that former chancellor Schroeder no longer carries out any duties that result from his former office,” the parties’ joint motion read. “The office will therefore be closed.”

Schroeder’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Schroeder, like Scholz a Social Democrat, is the living figure most closely associated with Germany’s “change through trade” policy, a doctrine that held close economic ties were the best way to tame and integrate Europe’s giant eastern neighbor.

But critics say the war in Ukraine is a spectacular illustration of that policy’s failure, and blame Schroeder – who as chancellor sponsored the building of more gas pipelines – for deepening Germany’s energy dependence on a neighbor that has now turned hostile.

Schroeder has always said that his ties to Putin are an essential channel of communication to a man the world cannot afford to ignore. A trip to Moscow to plead with Putin to end the war yielded no obvious results, however.

Dissatisfaction at Schroeder’s stance has affected his own closest colleagues: the four staff in his bureau all asked for new assignments within days of the war starting.

Remaining staff will be charged with winding down the office, and its files will be preserved for the state archives, according to the motion.