German ex-Chancellor Schroeder under EU pressure over Rosneft, Gazprom
By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Parliament urged that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder be blacklisted if he doesn’t give up the board of Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft in a transfer additionally meant to dissuade him from taking a prime job at Gazprom.
The draft decision, which additionally explicitly talked about Karin Kneissl, a former Austrian international minister underneath the federal government of Sebastian Kurz, was backed by the 4 largest political teams within the EU meeting.
Critics say Schroeder, a Social Democrat who as chancellor from 1998 to 2005 sponsored the constructing of extra fuel pipelines, deepened Germany’s power dependence on a neighbour that has turned hostile.
Schroeder was not instantly obtainable for remark.
The Parliament “notes that former politicians (..) have just lately resigned from their positions in Russian companies and strongly calls for that others, resembling Karin Kneissl and Gerhard Schroeder, do the identical,” the doc says.
The textual content shouldn’t be binding, however displays strain on the EU to behave towards Europeans seen as being near the Kremlin.
The EU has agreed to freeze the belongings of lots of of oligarchs and officers linked to the Kremlin, as a part of steps towards Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, however has shunned immediately focusing on Europeans with prime jobs at Russian companies that are seen as supporting the navy operation in Ukraine.
The Parliament urges “to increase the listing of people focused by EU sanctions to the European members of the boards of main Russian corporations and to politicians who proceed to obtain Russian cash.”
“By serving in prime positions of Kremlin-affiliated firms, the previous German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is de facto carefully cooperating with Russia,” mentioned centre-right lawmaker Markus Ferber, who helped draft the decision.
He mentioned the decision was additionally an invite for Schroeder to not take a job on the board of Russian fuel big Gazprom, which is ready to resolve on its board’s composition on Friday.
A spokesman for the EU international coverage division had no touch upon the decision however careworn that particular person sanctions wanted proof and the help of all 27 governments.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, additionally a Social Democrat, disregarded strategies that Schroeder must be placed on an EU sanctions listing, however welcomed a call to strip his predecessor of his workplace and employees within the German parliament.
“That is the response that’s appropriate now,” Scholz mentioned at a information convention in The Hague. “I don’t assume additional steps are needed in the mean time,” he mentioned, reiterating his view that it could be finest for Schroeder to resign from his posts.
Schroeder can also be chairman of the shareholders’ committee of the corporate in command of constructing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Germany and Russia, a venture now shelved.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio ; Extra reporting by Madeline Chambers in Berlin, John O’Donnell in Frankfurt and Vladimir Soldatkin; Modifying by William Maclean, Hugh Lawson and Leslie Adler)
