The European Parliament wants to call on the EU member states to take action against former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) as part of the sanctions against Russia. According to the will of the EU Parliament, Schröder and other European politicians in the service of Russian companies should be put on the EU sanctions list.

This emerges from a draft resolution available to the Tagesspiegel that was voted on by the parliamentary groups in the EU Parliament. The resolution is scheduled to be passed next Thursday.

In addition to Schröder, the draft resolution names four other European politicians who, according to the text, should be included in the EU sanctions list because of their board activities for larger Russian companies and money payments from Russia.

Mentioned here are the former French Prime Minister François Fillon from the conservative Republican camp, the former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho, the former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl and Austria’s ex-Prime Minister Wolfgang Bowl.

Because of his lack of distancing from Russian President Vladimir Putin and his posts at the Russian energy companies Nord Stream and Rosneft, a party order procedure is already underway in the SPD, which could lead to Schröder’s expulsion. In the EU Parliament, the initiative to put the former chancellor in particular on the sanctions list initially came from the liberal Renew group.

According to the current status of the deliberations between the parliamentary groups, the EU Parliament wants to raise the demand in the planned resolution that Russia-friendly politicians of other persuasions should also be included on the sanctions list. For example, the Austrian ex-Foreign Minister Kneissl, who is a member of the supervisory board of the Rosneft oil company, is a member of the FPÖ.

The EU is currently discussing a possible oil embargo as part of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. Although EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced corresponding plans in the EU Parliament almost two weeks ago, discussions about the embargo are proving to be tough.

This is due in particular to the blockade by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is demanding further concessions from the community. According to Orbán, the EU must make billions in compensation payments to enable an exit from Russian oil imports.