The 78-year-old is asking for his return to a parliamentary office in a Berlin court case.
Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is suing the country’s parliament in an attempt to restore privileges he was stripped of in May, according to his lawyer.
The 78-year-old is asking for his return to a parliamentary office in his case to the Berlin Administrative Court, his Hanover-based lawyer Michael Nagel told the DPA news agency on Friday.
A budget committee of the German parliament in May ruled that Schroeder, an object of fierce criticism in Germany for his ties to Russia, must give up his right to an office in the Bundestag, even though he must continue to receive pension and security details.
The former prime minister’s legal team is arguing that the Bundestag budget committee’s decision to cut funding to Schroeder’s parliamentary office and cut it is illegal, according to a statement from the law firm obtained by the DPA. Okay.
It is “stated that retired Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is no longer carrying out his so-called ‘remaining official duties’. However, it is not stated clearly what the ‘remaining official duties’ are, how to determine whether they are performed or not performed and furthermore what procedure must be followed in this regard. ,” the statement read.
Engagement with Russia
The former prime minister, who was in power from 1998 to 2005, has been criticized for years for his involvement in Russian state-owned companies and is considered a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Pressure for Schroeder to distance himself from Putin has increased following Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
In May, Schroeder finally announced that he was leaving the supervisory board of Russian energy giant Rosneft. He also turned down a nomination for a supervisory board position at Gazprom, another Russian energy giant.
His centre-left SPD decided there were no grounds for expelling him from the party on Monday after weeks of deliberation.
The commission in the northern German city of Hanover said Schroeder did not violate the SPD’s party rules by dealing with Russian state-owned companies, meaning there were no grounds for expulsions or even reprimands. .
