Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany on Wednesday announced he is bowing out of public life and said he will not serve in a ”grand coalition” under Angela Merkel, despite earlier speculation he might stay on as foreign minister.
”I will not belong to the next government, definitely not,” said an emotional Schröder, addressing a trade union conference in Hanover, his home town, to thunderous applause. He also managed a valedictory swipe at two of his biggest adversaries — British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States President George Bush.
Describing Blair ironically as ”my British friend”, the chancellor said Blair has ”other friends” too, a barbed reference to the prime minister’s stalwart alliance with Bush over Iraq.
The chancellor also attacked the more limited Anglo-Saxon model of the state, warning that Germany under Merkel should not try to emulate Britain or the US.
”I can think of a recent disaster that shows what happens when a country neglects its duties of state toward its people.
”My post as chancellor, which I still hold, does not allow me to name that country. But you all know I’m talking about America,” Schröder said to laughter. ”People do not want the state in their faces, but they want it at their side.”
In the wake of last month’s indecisive election, Schröder had tried to hang on to his job. But on Monday he said he is stepping down, allowing his rival to lead the first grand coalition in Germany since the 1960s.
Schröder has said he will take part in formal coalition talks between his Social Democrats (SPD) and Merkel’s Christian Democrats, which start next week. He is now in the curious position of having to persuade his reluctant party to back Merkel, a woman he ridiculed as not fit to be chancellor.
Since his resignation, there has been growing speculation about what the 61-year-old might do next. On Wednesday, his spokesperson, Bela Anda, angrily denied ”libellous” reports that Schröder would cash in on his close friendship with Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, and join the Russian energy giant Gasprom.
Others have suggested Schröder could work for a US bank. There has also been talk of him writing his memoirs, though Schröder, unlike his SPD predecessor, Helmut Schmidt, is not at home in the world of letters.
Until MPs formally elect Merkel chancellor next month in a secret ballot, Schröder will continue with his old globetrotting job. On Wednesday night, Schröder — a passionate supporter of Turkey’s European Union bid — flew to Turkey for talks with the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He is off to Paris on Friday to meet the French President, Jacques Chirac, a fellow Iraq refusenik. Nobody is expecting Schröder to drop in to Downing Street and say goodbye. But Blair will have an opportunity to say goodbye to the man he once called ”Gerd” when Schröder joins EU leaders later this month at Hampton Court.
The orphaned son of a cleaning lady — his father was killed in World War II — Schröder left school at 15. He took evening classes, passed law exams, and joined and led the SPD’s youth wing. He became chancellor in 1998, defeating Helmut Kohl, and kept the job for seven years at the head of a red-green coalition.
His record in office was mixed. His biggest success was in foreign policy — pioneering a more assertive role for Germany. His biggest failure was at home, embarking too late on urgently needed reforms. — Guardian Unlimited