Schroeder defends Gazprom role
Schroeder defends Gazprom role
Gerhard Schroeder has defended his role in a Gazprom-led pipeline scheme after it emerged his government agreed to guarantee finance to the Russian firm.
German opposition politicians have called on the former chancellor to sever links with Gazprom, claiming his involvement is a conflict of interest.
Before Mr Schroeder left office, his government agreed to underwrite a 1bn euros ($1.2bn; Ģ698m) loan to Gazprom.
Mr Schroeder said he was unaware of the decision, or any discussions about it.
Robust defence
In an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, Mr Schroeder said he had "no knowledge" of the proposed loan guarantee for a consortium building a huge gas pipeline between Siberia and Germany.
Mr Schroeder joined the supervisory board of the pipeline project - in which Gazprom is the main investor - as chairman late last month.
I did not know about these proceedings
Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor
His decision to join the Gazprom-led scheme so soon after leaving office in November has been heavily criticised by some German politicians.
While Chancellor, Mr Schroeder was a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Saturday, it emerged that a ministerial committee approved the loan guarantee to the state-controlled Russian firm on 24 October, weeks before Mr Schroeder stepped down from office.
The guarantee would have required Berlin to repay the loan to a group of German banks if Gazprom had not unable to do so itself.
The Russian firm decided against accepting the loan guarantee, originally intended to help finance a section of the pipeline between the Yuzhnoye Russkoye gas field and St Petersburg.
'Credibility issue'
In a robust defence of his position, Mr Schroeder said he had not been involved in any discussions about the pipeline's financing while in government.
"I did not know about these proceedings," he said.
"But the key point is that Gazprom has already said that it has not and will not accept the financing option put forward by the banks."
Mr Schroeder added that he had only decided to take a job with the consortium in December, after leaving office.
The German Green Party and the Free Democrats have called on Mr Schroeder to resign his position with the consortium.
Free Democrat leader Guido Westerwelle said Mr Schroeder had to sever his links with Gazprom in order to "keep some credibility".
According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the German Parliament was only told of the ministerial decision to approve the guarantee at the end of March.
Germany and Russian signed the 4bn euros gas pipeline agreement in September, just before last year's German elections.
Besides Gazprom, German firms E.ON and BASF are also investing in the huge project.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ss/4871368.stm
Published: 2006/04/03 08:49:31 GMT
Đ BBC MMVI
"Keep some credibility" ?Free Democrat leader Guido Westerwelle said Mr Schroeder had to sever his links with Gazprom in order to "keep some credibility".
This guy is the worst chancellor we had in our whole history, no wonder that he is now doing "stuff" like that.
A god damn scammer from the beginning to the end, may he rot in hell that ****ing faggot.
Geezus Macs! Didn't realize he was THAT bad.
He wasnīt. The worst was Helmut Kohl. Though he didnīt do too bad during the earlier years, he later on had a good deal of responsibility for the rushed reunification without a real plan for the future, he didnt push for the real integration of foreigners which came in masses beginning with the 90īs (they were all considered "temporary guests", Germany was not seen as an immigration state), the taxation and welfare system wasnt streamlined as it should have been despite widespread alarms by analysts and scientists.Originally Posted by ed316
These were precursors for the 3 main problems Germany has to face for the next 10-20 years: Unemployment, stagnating business and lacking integration of immigrants. Also he admitted to breaking party law during his regency.
Other than him, Ludwig Erhard (the 2nd Chancellor) would also be a good nominee. He was very successful as earlier minister, but as Chancellor he failed to accomplish anything, he wasnt supported by his own party, he alienated the French that previous Chancellor Adenauer only recently had made friends with and left office after 3 years..
Dito, that guy ... bahrgh...really grinding my gears.
I give Gazprom 3 more month until its bancrupt !
x2 absolutely
his motto "everything is fine, people are just not noticing it"
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