Russian ties shred German ex-leader Schroeder’s standing

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Gerhard Schroeder left the German chancellery after a narrow election defeat in 2005 with an ambitious overhaul of the country’s welfare state beginning to kick in and every chance of a future as a respected elder statesman. Fast-forward to last week. German lawmakers agreed to shut down Schroeder’s taxpayer-funded office, the European Parliament called for him to be sanctioned and his own party set a mid-June hearing on applications to have him expelled. Schroeder’s association with the Russian energy sector turned the 78-year-old into a political pariah in Germany after the invasion of Ukraine, and his departure from Rosneft appears unlikely to undo the damage to his standing.