SPD leaders push to expel Gerhard Schröder after his visit to Putin's birthday

Visit to Putin's home

On Wednesday 7 October, his 74th birthday, Vladimir Putin received Gerhard Schröder at his home, according to the Kremlin. The Kremlin said Putin learned from the media that the former chancellor was in Moscow on business and invited his 'old friend' over. Photos published by the Kremlin show the two men smiling as they shake hands. Schröder was chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and has been a friend of Putin since then. He has described the Russian attack on Ukraine as a mistake but has kept the friendship.

Greens demand proceedings

Franziska Brantner, co-chair of the Greens, condemned the visit in an interview with Tagesspiegel.

Gerhard Schröder is celebrating Putin's birthday with him while civilians are dying in Ukraine in further Russian attacks. That is politically unacceptable.

Brantner said that anything other than opening exclusion proceedings would be a 'fatal signal' for Ukraine and for the people of Germany and their security. She recalled that an attempt to exclude Schröder in 2022 failed and said the situation has since worsened, because Russia now also carries out hybrid attacks against Germany. Schröder has learned nothing from this, she said, and proceedings must be restarted.

SPD state leaders and the formal hurdles

Robin Mesarosch, SPD chair in Baden-Württemberg, and Sebastian Roloff, SPD chair in Bavaria, also want Schröder removed from the party, but both pointed to the high formal requirements for such a decision. Mesarosch said that if the proceedings have a prospect of success this time, the party should pursue them. He added that he had long since given up on Schröder.

Schröder is a disgrace for the whole country.

Roloff said the prospects of a further procedure were questionable, yet argued that if there is a chance it should be tried. He called Schröder's behaviour 'absolutely impossible' and said that courting a war criminal who has terrorised Ukraine for years and ordered hybrid attacks on Germany cannot be justified.

Upper Palatinate motion and wider criticism

Carolin Wagner, chair of the SPD Upper Palatinate district, said a motion was adopted unanimously at a district party conference. The motion, whose text was seen by the German Press Agency dpa, asks the SPD executive to file new party disciplinary proceedings against Schröder without delay. It cites his supervisory board seat at the Russian retail chain Hyperglobus and his visit to Putin on the Russian president's birthday. Wagner pointed to the war with thousands dead, abducted children and war crimes. Former federal labour minister Hubertus Heil also criticised the visit.

The warm embrace of Schröder and Putin in Moscow outrages me deeply and churns me up.

Heil said that celebrating with a dictator whose murderous imperialism causes daily terrible suffering cannot be justified by anything.

Open questions

The reports differ on when the first exclusion attempt failed: Brantner and Mesarosch refer to 2022, while Focus dates it to 2023. The articles do not report any decision on new proceedings, and both state SPD leaders acknowledge the high hurdles for exclusion.