Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has filed a lawsuit against the German parliament. He demands to restore the privileges of the former head of government, according to Welt.

Schroeder insists that the former office of the ex-chancellor be returned to him and the staff restored.

In May, the ruling coalition in the Bundestag announced that Schroeder was being stripped of his office and employees because of his refusal to leave positions in Russian state concerns, despite the war in Ukraine. Members of the budget committee of the Bundestag explained that Schroeder no longer fulfills any obligations as ex-chancellor, so there are no grounds for granting these privileges. Schroeder's office was closed, but the ex-politician still receives a pension and protection.

In March 2022, some employees refused to work with the ex-chancellor in protest against his position on Russia. In March, Schröder was stripped of his honorary citizen of Hannover and honorary member of the board of the local football club Hannover 96. In May, the European Parliament called for him to be included in the sanctions list of Russian oligarchs.

Recently, Schroeder's staff costs amounted to about 400 thousand euros per year. In 2017, about 561,000 euros were paid from the salary budget to Schroeder's employees.

Schroeder has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of NK Rosneft since 2017. His salary in this position was $600,000. In February 2022, Schroeder was nominated as a candidate to the board of directors of the Russian state company Gazprom, taking the place of the chairman of the Kazakhstan Association of Oil, Gas and Energy Complex Organizations Kazenergy and the son-in-law of the former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev Timur Kulibayev.

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schröder refused to step down from positions in Russian companies, despite calls to do so from across the German political spectrum, including SPD chancellor Olaf Scholz.

In May, Schroeder still left the board of directors of Rosneft, because he was threatened with sanctions.

At the end of July, Schroeder arrived in Moscow and settled next to the Rosneft office. He told reporters that he was on vacation. In response to the remark that the Rosneft office is very close, Schroeder replied in surprise: “Really? Yes you are right". However, the ex-chancellor's wife denied his words, saying that he was not on vacation at all, but was "conducting negotiations on energy."

On August 3, Schroeder said that he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed, in particular, the situation in Ukraine. He also said that Germany can avoid an energy crisis in winter if it puts the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into operation.