A broad coalition in the European Parliament wants to put Schroeder on the sanctions list
Schroeder is said to have lost offices and staff
The privileges of former Chancellor Schroeder will soon expire. The state spent €407,000 in staff costs for its office last year. Now the traffic light wants to cancel all employees except for personal security and is planning to fix.
The pressure now comes from Brussels on former Chancellor Schroeder (SPD): a broad coalition in the European Parliament wants to put the Rosneft chairman on the EU sanctions list. In the next vote, a strong majority for the measure is considered safe.
aMEPs want to invite the 27 member states to include former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (SPD) on the EU’s sanctions list, which already includes many Russian oligarchs. The draft decision, read by WELT, reads: After a number of Western politicians resigned from positions in Russian companies, they “strongly demand that others such as Karin Kneissl and Gerhard Schroeder do the same.”
Knessel is a non-partisan Austrian politician and member of the supervisory board of the state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft since last year. Schroeder is the chairman of the supervisory board there.
Karin Kneissl (Independent), former politician from Austria and member of the Supervisory Board of Rosneft.
Credit: pa/AA/Arif Hudaverdi Yaman
The draft is “a real signal from Europe. Former Chancellors (CDU) WELT should continue to think about the welfare of their state after their time,” MP Stefan Berger (CDU) WELT said. Should Schroeder and Kneissl stay in office, MEPs call on the EU Council to “expand The list of people affected by EU sanctions to include European board members of large Russian companies and politicians who continue to receive Russian money.” The draft reads. Both Schroeder and Kneissl have so far refused to relinquish the position and associated pay.
After lengthy debates, MPs from Christian Democrats and Conservatives (EPP), Social Democrats and Socialists (S&D), Liberals and Greens approved the draft. The question of who should be required to resign from their office and, if necessary, to submit to sanctions, was controversial.
In the first draft, only Gerhard Schöder is mentioned. The Social Democrats in Parliament, including those from Germany, did not object, but indicated other politicians who also work for Russian companies should be included in the list.
The resolution is scheduled to pass in the plenary on Thursday. Because of the unity of the four large factions, the vast majority of any actions against Schroeder and others are considered certain. Then representatives of the 27 member states must approve the draft. There will be an opportunity to do so at Friday’s meeting. The approval of the German representatives is quite likely.
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