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Gerhard Schröder
Retired figureGermanyBorn 1944

Gerhard Schröder

Chancellor of Germany (1998-2005) · Chairman of the SPD (1999-2004)

German Social Democrat and chancellor from 1998 to 2005 who led an SPD-Green coalition, pushed through the Agenda 2010 reforms, kept Germany out of the Iraq war and later took jobs with Russian energy firms.

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Profile on 12 axesAll 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stand

Gerhard Schröder, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership+10
    PublicPrivate
  2. 02Markets+20
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare+10
    SharedSelf-reliant

    He was a Social Democrat, yet Agenda 2010 cut jobless and other benefits. Compared with his party, that puts him slightly toward self-reliance.

  4. 04Authority-30
    DemocraticStrong leader
  5. 05Security+10
    LibertyOrder
  6. 06Structure0
    LocalCentral
  7. 07Morality-30
    ProgressiveTraditional
  8. 08Religion-20
    SecularReligious
  9. 09Technology+20
    EmbraceCaution

    His government agreed Germany's first nuclear phase-out and paid for renewable energy, so the score leans mildly to caution.

  10. 10Culture-25
    MulticulturalNational identity

    He eased the rules for naturalization and proposed hiring foreign IT experts. In 1997, though, he called for a tougher line on foreign criminals.

  11. 11Trade-35
    GlobalProtected
  12. 12Foreign policy-15
    CooperationStrength

    He sent troops to Kosovo and Afghanistan but would not join the Iraq war, and he kept close ties with Putin's Russia.

Who is Gerhard Schröder?

Gerhard Schröder grew up poor in Lippe. He earned his school certificates at night classes and set up as a Hanover lawyer. He headed the SPD's youth wing, won a Bundestag seat in 1980 and ran the state government of Lower Saxony from 1990. Defeating Helmut Kohl in 1998, he governed alongside the Greens, whose Joschka Fischer became foreign minister. Once his Bundesrat majority was gone, he asked for an early election in 2005 and Angela Merkel succeeded him. He now holds no office. A party panel ruled in 2023 that he could stay in the SPD.

Political views

  • In 2003 he launched Agenda 2010, a set of reforms to the welfare system and the job market.Source: hdg.de
  • His first government decided to end nuclear power over time, set up civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples, and loosened the rules on gaining German citizenship.Source: hdg.de
  • In 1999 he sent German forces into NATO's air war over Kosovo. It was their first combat mission since World War II.Source: hdg.de
  • In 2001 he linked a vote of confidence to sending the Bundeswehr to Afghanistan.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • In 2002 he announced that Germany would stay out of any military action against Iraq.Source: hdg.de
  • In 2000 he suggested bringing foreign high-tech workers to Germany.Source: hdg.de
  • He formed a close bond with Vladimir Putin and backed the Nord Stream gas link between Russia and Germany.Source: en.wikipedia.org

Legacy

Supporters say Schröder modernized his party and moved it to the centre. They credit Agenda 2010 with reshaping a costly welfare system, and many Germans welcomed his decision to stay out of Iraq. Critics on the left say the reforms cut support for jobless people and split the SPD. His work after politics is the biggest controversy. Within weeks of leaving office he chaired the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG, the pipeline company his government had supported. Later he chaired the board of Russia's state oil firm Rosneft. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he quit Rosneft and passed on a seat at Gazprom, yet he never cut ties with Putin. The Bundestag stopped paying for his ex-chancellor's office.

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Gerhard Schröder: questions

Is Gerhard Schröder a socialist?

By label he is a social democrat, not a socialist in the strict sense. He has belonged to the SPD since 1963 and led it from 1999 to 2004. His Agenda 2010 reforms cut some benefits, which many on the left disliked.

What did Agenda 2010 do?

Announced in 2003, it overhauled unemployment, health and pension benefits and changed labour market rules. It also lowered taxes.

Why do people criticize Schröder over Russia?

Once out of office he took senior jobs at Nord Stream and Rosneft, both linked to the Russian state. Critics say he stayed loyal to Putin after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Sources

Portrait: Герхард Шредер (05-12-2019) (cropped).jpg by Пресс-служба Президента Республики Казахстан, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and converted to grayscale by 12axes-test.com.