A change in Germany’s foreign and security policies after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine is what Olaf Scholz is trying to do for his country. The proof that Mr. Scholz is important came on Thursday when he talked about his own party’s biggest embarrassment in Russia.
That’s Gerhard Schröder, who was the chancellor of Germany before he left. Mr. Schröder, like Mr. Scholz, is a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Since leaving office in 2005, he has been a very well-paid political fixer and brand ambassador for Russian power firms. He’s the CEO of Rosneft, a member of Gazprom’s board, and he’s in charge of a number of natural-gas pipelines, including Nord Stream 1 and a number of smaller pipelines.
These jobs make Mr. Schröder the most well-known Putinversteher (roughly, “Putin whisperer”) in the Russophile SPD and in German politics in general. The shame of a former chief taking on such a job is a national, social, and personal one.
This is what Mr. Scholz is telling Mr. Schröder to do now. I don’t think Gerhard Schröder should hold these jobs, Mr. Scholz said in a TV interview Thursday. “And I think it would be right for him to give them away.” Chancellors’ public service doesn’t end when they leave office, said Mr. Scholz.
He seems to have a lot of support from his party. The co-leaders, Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken, called on Mr. Schröder to resign from his Russian posts on Thursday, and they said that one letter had been sent to Mr. Schröder’s SPD office in Hanover asking for his party membership to be revoked.
It’s fair to ask why it took them so long, and the answer shows why it’s so important that Mr. Scholz is doing this now. The SPD has always been a place for people who wanted to have better relations with Moscow. The party’s Willy Brandt started the world Ostpolitik of rapprochement with the Soviets in the Sixties. Mr. Schröder also had a lot of power in the party because the SPD had just had its most recent election victory before Mr. Scholz.
Mr. Scholz is showing that he understands that his strategy of revolution would require a change of heart and tradition in his own party. He’s taking aim at an SPD graybeard for buck-raking in Russia. He still has a hard time convincing the left, but calling out Mr. Schröder is a good start.
People in the West keep up with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but Russia’s monetary system takes a big hit because of it. Meanwhile, Europe’s dependence on Russia makes it hard for the West to figure out how to do it.
