A year after the Bundestag revoked special rights from former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD), the Berlin administrative court is dealing with the case. According to the court, a hearing on Schröder’s lawsuit against the decision at the second chamber is scheduled for May 4th.
The former chancellor is demanding that the Bundestag restore his special rights, which were revoked in May 2022. The 79-year-old demands that a former chancellor’s office with employees be made available to him again.
Connections to Russia and Putin
The budget committee had withdrawn some of Schröder’s special rights and decided to close his office. The former chancellor had previously faced massive criticism for his ties to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Several of his employees had already given up their posts after the Russian attack on Ukraine. Schröder’s connections to Russian corporations or Putin were not mentioned in the motion approved by the budget committee.
After the lawsuit had been filed, the law firm commissioned by Schröder argued that the decision was illegal. It is “claimed that former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder no longer takes care of the so-called “after-effects of official duties”. “However, it does not specify what “long-term official duties” actually are, how their perception or non-perception is to be determined and what procedure is otherwise to be followed,” the statement continued.
