Schröder case: Bavarian SPD district seeks expulsion, but state leader doubts new bid
After Schröder attended Putin's birthday celebration, an SPD district voted unanimously to expel him. Other Social Democrats doubt a new procedure would succeed, while CDU labor wing piles on pressure.
Archive image · Photo: JoachimKohler-HB / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The Social Democrats' Upper Palatinate district voted unanimously at a party conference on Saturday to seek the expulsion of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The move follows Schröder's attendance at Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday celebration. The SPD state leaders of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria had already raised the idea of expelling him.
Others in the party doubt such a bid would succeed. Ulf Kämpfer, SPD leader in Schleswig-Holstein, told Der Tagesspiegel: "As far as a new expulsion procedure is concerned, I am skeptical after the failure of all previous attempts." The local branch in Leutenbach, which unsuccessfully launched proceedings in 2022, is not currently planning a new attempt, according to its chairman, Pierre Orthen.
Dennis Radtke, head of the CDU's labor wing CDA, called for a clean break, telling Der Tagesspiegel: "The SPD should settle the Schröder matter for good and finally show him the door."