German ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder experiencing burnout
German ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder experiencing burnout

German ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder experiencing burnout

Gerhard Schröder is receiving treatment for burnout and a “pronounced lack of energy,” his doctors said.

Germany’s controversial former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is receiving treatment for signs of burnout.

Schröder is “suffering from severe burnout syndrome with the typical signs of profound exhaustion and a pronounced lack of energy,” Germany’s DPA news agency reported citing his doctor’s assessment.

The former chancellor, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), signed himself up for clinical treatment on his doctor’s advice, his lawyer Hans-Peter Huber told reporters from AFP and DPA news agencies.

Schröder’s ties to Russia heavily criticized 

The 80-year-old former chancellor occupied the post from 1998 until 2005 and led Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ center-left SPD from 1999 to 2004.

He enjoyed a friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and was deeply involved with Russian state-owned energy companies after his tenure as chancellor.

Heavily criticized over his Russian ties, Schröder was due to be questioned by a parliamentary commission of inquiry in Germany’s northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania last month, but he never appeared, citing illness.

The probe was over his role on the board of directors responsible for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

The pipeline never went into service, amid Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Later in the same year, Nord Stream 2 was damaged in underwater explosions in the Baltic Sea.

Following the Russian full-scale Ukraine offensive, Schröder was reluctant to fully distance himself from Moscow and Putin, which estranged him from Berlin’s political establishment and from his own SPD party.

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