In the last few hours Vladimir Putin has made it clear that the war with Kiev could be coming to an end. And the tenant of the Kremlin has brought up a name to be involved in the negotiations, an old friend who has never taken a stand against his invasion of Ukraine. This is the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who was in power in Germany between 1998 and 2005.
The special relationship with Putin
Putin would like Schroeder among the mediators in the war in Ukraine: his unusual proposal has sparked mixed political reactions in Germany. The reason for the choice lies in the politics of the former German chancellor. Indeed, the 82-year-old Social Democrat has remained a loyal supporter of the Kremlin leader for two decades. His refusal to condemn Russia’s 2022 invasion earned him blame within his own party, Friedrich Merz’s junior coalition partner, and cost him some of his privileges as a former chancellor.
During his tenure, Schroeder also strengthened energy relations between Berlin and Moscow in the belief that a Russia linked to Europe through trade and gas would have too much to lose in a conflict with the Old Continent, making Germany more secure and at the same time benefiting its economy. The former German chancellor also played a key role in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipeline projects and served on the board of directors of the Russian oil company Rosneft, a position he left in 2022.
Political career
Gerhard Schroeder was German Chancellor between 1998 and 2005. His political career developed within the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). After having been president of the Social Democratic Youth (Jusos) at the end of the Seventies, he became federal president of the SPD in 1989. In 1990, i.e. a year later, he was appointed minister-president of the Land of Lower Saxony, at the head of a red-green coalition, a position to which he would be re-elected twice with an absolute majority.
In 1998 Schroeder was chosen as chancellor candidate against Helmut Kohl. He wins the legislative elections and is then appointed chancellor at the head of the first red coalition of the federal government. In 2002 he was re-elected by beating the CDU-CSU candidate Edmund Stoiber at the polls, thus guaranteeing the renewal of his coalition.
The controversies in Germany
The Kremlin tenant’s proposal is causing mixed reactions within the SPD. A mediator between Russia and the European Union “cannot simply be a friend of Putin,” said Michael Roth, former Social Democrat chairman of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, in an interview with Tagesspiegel. “The essential point is that Schroeder must first of all be accepted by Ukraine. Neither Moscow nor we can decide for Kiev,” he added. But within the SPD there are representatives who are more open to Vladimir Putin’s proposal. “This must be carefully assessed in close consultation with our European partners and must not be categorically ruled out from the start,” Adis Ahmetovic, SPD spokesperson for Foreign Affairs in the Bundestag, told the weekly Spiegel.
“If we don’t want Putin and Trump to decide the future of Ukraine alone, we must seize every opportunity. Even if it is minimal”, added MP Ralf Stegner on the pages of Der Spiegel. In opposition, the idea is supported by the BSW, a pro-Russian left-wing party born in early 2024. “We should turn to the former chancellor. What do we have to lose?”, he told theAfp the president of the party, Fabio De Masi. “There are serious doubts about whether this is a good idea,” Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the German liberal FDP party, replied to the group’s newspapers. Funke.