Two SPD state leaders call for Schroeder's expulsion after Putin birthday visit
After the Greens urged new expulsion proceedings, the Social Democrats' leaders in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria have joined in. The party leadership has so far stayed silent.
Archive image · Photo: Bundesministerium für europäische und internationale Angelegenheiten / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Pressure on former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is growing inside his own party. After he visited Russian President Vladimir Putin for his 74th birthday, the Social Democrats' state leaders in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Robin Mesarosch, and Bavaria, Sebastian Roloff, backed a new attempt to expel him. "A former chancellor who goes to birthday parties of war criminals makes himself impossible, not only for the SPD," Mesarosch said. Roloff said it should be tried if there was a chance.
Greens co-leader Franziska Brantner had earlier urged the SPD to launch new proceedings. Former Labour Minister Hubertus Heil, a Social Democrat, said celebrating with a "dictator" could not be justified. According to the Tagesspiegel, the SPD leadership has issued no official position, and General Secretary Tim Kluessendorf declined to comment.
Several attempts to expel Schroeder over his closeness to Putin and his work for Russian state companies failed in 2022 and 2023, when a party arbitration panel in the Hanover region found no provable breach of party rules.
Sources
- Tagesspiegel, „Er ist eine einzige Schande für das ganze Land“: Zwei SPD-Landesvorsitzende für Parteiausschluss von Gerhard Schröder, 10.10.2026
- ZDFheute, „Politisch unerträglich“: Grünen-Chefin fordert SPD-Ausschluss von Schröder, 10.10.2026
- Radio Osnabrück, „SPD-Landeschefs drängen auf Ausschluss von Schröder“, 10.10.2026