Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is receiving medical treatment for severe burnout, according to German media.
The report, published on Tuesday, cited a doctor’s assessment that Schröder is suffering from “profound exhaustion,” a “pronounced lack of energy,” and issues with concentration, memory, and sleep.
Schröder, 80, who served as Germany’s chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and led the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1999 to 2004, has faced significant criticism in recent years for his close ties to Russia.
His involvement with Russian state-owned energy companies and his reluctance to fully distance himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022 have alienated him from the German political establishment.
Schröder’s lawyer, Hans-Peter Huber, confirmed that the former chancellor entered clinical treatment on medical advice. The World Health Organisation defines burnout as a syndrome resulting from unmanaged chronic workplace stress.
The health issues come amid ongoing scrutiny of Schröder’s role in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which he chaired. A parliamentary commission in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had planned to question him last month, but he did not appear due to illness.
The pipeline, intended to transport Russian gas to Germany, never became operational and was damaged in underwater explosions in the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
