Heidelberg (dpa / lsw) - The decision of an SPD arbitration commission for former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to remain in the party is not well received by many Southwestern comrades. "The verdict disappoints me personally and disappoints us as the SPD district association in Heidelberg," said the deputy head of the SPD in the university town, Tim Tugendhat, on Monday. His association and 16 other SPD branches nationwide had applied for the expulsion of the former Chancellor from the party. Tugendhat said they reserve the right to appeal. In the course of Tuesday, all sections would decide together whether to appeal. In addition to KV Heidelberg, the local clubs in Lauchringen (district of Waldshut) and Backnang (district of Rems-Murr) in the southwest also no longer want to tolerate Schröder in their party.
The arbitration commission of the SPD sub-district in Hanover sees no violation of party rules in Schröder's commitment to Russia. There is no basis for a complaint or even a party exclusion. An appeal can be lodged against this within two weeks.
Astrophysicist Tugendhat emphasized that Schröder's retention of board positions in Russian companies important to the war effort and his diplomatic solo efforts were a lack of solidarity. "They harm the SPD in the traffic light coalition." It is incomprehensible that Schröder never spoke of Putin's war of aggression, but only of a war in Ukraine. For KV Heidelberg, supporting a war criminal is incompatible with membership in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Tugendhat summed it up: "In terms of content, the Commission and the organizations submitting the application are not far apart - only the conclusions are different."
