The former chancellor is celebrating his 80th birthday. Because of his friendship with the Russian president, Schröder has fallen out with many SPD colleagues.
The lawyer Gerhard Schröder in his office in Hanover.
NDR press
“All members of the SPD are equal. “I am an equal among equals,” Schröder told the Welt television station in October 2023 before being honored for 60 years of membership in the SPD. Many party members may have seen things differently back then. The German Chancellor from 1998 to 2005 celebrates his 80th birthday on Sunday.
Schröder has been at odds with his party since the outbreak of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine: He did not want to give up his well-paid position at the Nord Stream stock corporation, which is entangled with the Russian energy company Gazprom. The same applies to his long-standing friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The party’s attempt to get rid of him failed.
Steinmeier and Scholz send formal letters
His 80th birthday therefore presents several prominent party members with the difficult question of how they should deal with the milestone birthday of their former party great. The Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz only sent a letter of congratulations. A government spokeswoman told the DPA that the Chancellor had congratulated his predecessor in writing “as usual”.
As “Bild” wants to know exclusively, the Social Democratic Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier only congratulated his former confidant Schröder in a “formal” letter. According to the tabloid, apart from the words “Dear Gerd” and “your Frank Steinmeier”, the letter was not written by hand. The letter, which is available to Bild, reads impersonally. Steinmeier does not address any of Schröder’s political merits.
Steinmeier was temporarily head of the Federal Chancellery during Schröder’s first term as Chancellor. He helped shape Schröder’s Russia policy and that of his successor Angela Merkel as Foreign Minister, but admitted his mistakes after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine – in contrast to Schröder.
AfD leader Chrupalla praises Schröder’s Russia policy
The former Chancellor maintained his close friendship with Vladimir Putin and even traveled to visit him in Moscow in 2022. Last week, Schröder spoke in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” about a possible diplomatic solution with Russia: “I am firmly convinced that Putin also has an interest in it. What is he supposed to do with the whole of Ukraine?” He celebrated his last milestone birthday in 2014 together with the Russian President in St. Petersburg, and in 2004 Putin was a guest in Germany for Schröder’s 60th birthday. So far, Putin has not publicly congratulated the former chancellor.
The former Chancellor may be less pleased with the congratulations from AfD leader Tino Chrupalla, who praises Schröder’s questionable relations with Moscow. The AfD politician congratulated the former chancellor on Sunday morning on X with the words: “As chancellor, he advocated for a strategic partnership with Russia and paved the way for Nord Stream, the lifeline of our industry. His life’s work will one day be completed.” The right-wing party has repeatedly attracted attention in the past because of its proximity to Russia.
Schröder’s ex-wife congratulates
According to “Bild”, the Lower Saxony SPD MP Doris Schröder-Köpf also sent her ex-husband congratulations by letter. The letter should be a “mix of private and official congratulations,” writes the paper. Schröder-Köpf adopted two Russian children with her ex-husband, probably with the help of Russian President Putin. Schröder’s current wife, So-yeon Schröder-Kim, congratulated her husband via her widely followed Instagram account.
The SPD chairmen Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil also congratulated Schröder in a letter, according to “Zeit online”. The SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert had already announced that he did not want to congratulate Schröder. The former chancellor described him as a “poor wretch” in an ARD documentary that will be broadcast on Monday.