08/15/2017
Russia: SPD should demand the former chancellor to renounce
Controversy over Schröder’s nomination for the Rosneft board (Press Release)
The SPD should not play down Schröder’s controversial candidacy as a ‘personal decision’, as there is no ‘wildcard’ for former chancellors. They still have a special political responsibility. Photo: Thorsten Krienke via Flickr
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has appealed to the federal executive board of the SPD to demand the former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to reject his nomination as a candidate for the board of Russia’s parastatal energy company Rosneft. “The SPD should not play down Schröder’s controversial candidacy as a ‘personal decision’, as there is no ‘wildcard’ for former chancellors. They still have a special political responsibility,” says a letter the STP’s director, Ulrich Delius, sent to Hubertus Heil, general secretary of the SPD. During a press conference on Monday, Heil had not distanced himself from Schröder.
“This is not a private decision, but a state affair,” declared Delius in Göttingen on Tuesday. “Rosneft wants to use Schröder to help lift the EU sanctions against Russia. But Putin must not be rewarded for keeping up Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea and the continued violations of the basic human rights of the Crimean Tatars.” Rosneft did not manage to avoid negative consequences through legal means, and Schröder is known to be critical about the sanctions.
“Someone who preaches water and drinks wine is not credible. If the SPD is really trying to disentangle economic interests and politics, the party must not remain silent about Schröder’s questionable activities. He was most definitely not nominated because of his economic expertise but because of his influence on German and European politics,” Delius criticized. “What about decency and political tact? The former SPD chairman is about to become Putin’s lackey and to leave his party in a pile of shards in the run-up to the elections.”
In addition, the STP accuses the Kremlin-controlled energy group Rosneft of destroying the livelihood of 260,000 indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic and Siberia with its oil and natural gas projects. According to the STP, the company’s efforts to exploit new energy resources is leading to human rights violations against the Nenets, the Khanty, the Mansi, the Evenks, the Sami, and other indigenous peoples of Russia.
Header Photo: Thorsten Krienke via Flickr
