Germany's ex-chancellor hasn't yet formally left Gazprom but has already announced he will join Russian-owned oil company Rosneft. His taste for Russian money repels many Germans. EURACTIV's partner Ouest France reports.
This is a further blow to Social Democratic Party (SPD) candidate Martin Schulz, whose electoral campaign is struggling against Angela Merkel, who is seeking a fourth mandate.
The last SPD leader to serve as Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder is due to join Rosneft, the Russian oil giant – as soon as he is done advising Gazprom, which is also Russian-owned.
Informed on Monday (21 August), Chancellor Merkel received the news badly: ”Nicht Normal" (”It is not normal,") she allegedly said.
The conservative leader could have prevented this. In 2006, she had promised to create a code of conduct for politicians when Schröder, whom she defeated, went directly from Berlin...to the Kremlin.
Accused of monetizing his political relations with his ”friend Vladimir Putin", Schröder defended his decision to Die Zeit by arguing he ”did not want to sit around doing nothing and be a nuisance to my wife".
