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UKRAINE

Pressure grows on ex-German Chancellor Schröder over Russia links

Part of Gerhard Schröder's entourage quit on Tuesday, according to local reports, adding to the pressure for the former German chancellor to cut his ties with Russian companies.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) talks at an event in Berlin in 2021.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) talks at an event in Berlin in 2021. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

The four members of his office staff who resigned showed they had “more backbone” than the Social Democrat, said Sebastian Brehm (CSU), a senior member of the conservative parliamentary group.

Schröder, who led Germany between 1998 and 2005, had “lost all his moral credibility by clinging to the lucrative posts”, Brehm said.

Meanwhile, the chancellor’s former spokesman, Bela Anda, announced a halt to his regular podcast with Schröder.

The Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where Schröder is an honorary member, was also applying pressure on him, according to local reports.

Were the chancellor to hold on to his posts Dortmund could “not accept this and would make a decision accordingly”, the club told German daily Bild.

At issue are Schröder’s role as chairman of the board of directors of Russian oil giant Rosneft, as well as his planned ascension to the supervisory board of the gas giant Gazprom in June.

The gas group is behind the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia, whose approval was blocked by the German government in one of the West’s first responses to the aggression in Ukraine.

READ ALSO: OPINION – Germany has scuppered Nord Stream 2 but there are questions to answer

Schröder himself signed off on the first Nord Stream in his final weeks in office, and currently heads the pipeline’s shareholders’ committee.

The elder statesman, who has been publicly friendly with Putin, describing him as a “perfect democrat” in 2004, has become a nuisance for Germany’s leadership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets ex German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in May 2018 during a ceremony marking Putin’s inauguration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets ex German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in May 2018 during a ceremony marking Putin’s inauguration. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Alexei Druzhinin

Current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, from the same party as Schröder, has distanced himself from his predecessor, saying recently “he does not speak for the government”.

Schröder’s roles were “damaging Germany’s reputation”, the co-head of the Social Democrats Saskia Esken said over the weekend.

In a LinkedIn post last week, the ex-leader said the war in Ukraine “must be stopped as soon as possible”, but added there had been “mistakes — on both sides”.

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GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

Foreigners in Germany are waiting on tenterhooks for the introduction of the new dual nationality law on Thursday - but the centre-right CDU and CSU say they would overturn the reform if re-elected next year.

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

“The CDU and CSU will reverse this unsuccessful reform,” Alexander Throm (CDU), spokesperson on domestic policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told DPA on Tuesday.

“Dual citizenship must remain the exception and be limited to countries that share our values.”

Throm also criticised the new citizenship law for reducing the amount of time foreigners need to live in the country before naturalising as Germans, describing the new residence requirements as “far too short”.

“After five or even three years, it is not yet possible to determine with certainty whether integration has been successful in the long term,” he stated.

“The recent caliphate demonstrations and the rampant Islamist extremism, often by people with German passports, must be a wake-up call for us all.”

READ ALSO: Which foreign residents are likely to become German after citizenship law change?

Despite vociferous opposition, the alliance between the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party (CSU) was powerless to stop the traffic-light coalition’s citizenship reform passing in both the Bundestag and Bundesrat earlier this year. 

The reform, which permits the holding of multiple passports, lowers residence requirements and removes language hurdles for certain groups, is set to come into force on June 27th. 

But with the CDU and CSU emerging as clear winners in the recent EU parliamentary elections and regularly landing on 30 percent or above in the polls, it’s possible that the party could be on course to re-enter government next year. 

In this situation, the centre-right parties have pledged to try and undo what senior CDU politicians have described as a “dangerous” reform.

“It is not unusual for successive governments to reverse decisions made by the previous government,” Andrea Lindholz, the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group said in a recent response to a question

“We will maintain our position on this and will continue to strive for a corresponding change.”

READ ALSO: What are citizenship offices around Germany doing to prepare for the new law?

Whether the CDU and CSU can secure enough votes at both state and federal elections to change the law in the future remains to be seen.

The parties may also have to compromise on their plans with any future coalition partner, such as the Greens, Social Democrats (SPD) or Free Democrats (FDP), all of whom support liberal immigration laws and the holding of multiple nationalities. 

‘Citizenship devaluation law’

The CDU and CSU parties, which form a centre-right alliance nicknamed the Union, have long been opposed to dual nationality in Germany.

During their years of governing in a so-called grand coalition with the centre-right Social Democrats (SPD), the parties had regularly made reforms of citizenship one of their red lines, citing the danger of hostile nations influencing Germany from within. 

In a recent parliamentary speech back in January, Throm had slammed the bill as a “citizenship devaluation law” and accused the government of trying to generate a new electorate to win votes.

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

In comments aimed primarily at Germany’s large Turkish diaspora, the CDU politician claimed that people who had lived in Germany for decades but not taken German citizenship had already chosen their old country over Germany.

The majority of Turks in Germany are also supporters of the authoritarian president Recep Erdogan, he argued.

Responding to the claims, FDP migration expert Ann-Veruschka Jurisch said the opposition was fuelling resentments against migrants by claiming the government was “squandering German citizenship”.

In fact, she argued, the reform has tightened up requirements by ensuring that people who claim benefits and cannot support themselves are unable to become German citizens.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Germany’s citizenship law reform

In addition, the B1 language requirements have only been softened in a few exceptional cases, for example to honour the lifetime achievements of the guest worker generation who had few opportunities when they arrived, Jurisch said. 

If foreigners have committed crimes, the authorities will be able to investigate whether these involved racist or anti-Semitic motives before citizenship is granted, she added. 

With reporting by DPA

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