Previously, 17 regional party associations launched proceedings against Schroeder, based on close contacts with the Russian oil and gas sector. According to Schroeder’s fellow party members, the newspaper writes, the former chancellor did not distance himself enough from Russia.
In August last year, the commission made a decision in the first instance, according to which the personal friendship with the Russian president does not violate the statutes of the SPD, but is a personal matter of the former chancellor of Germany.