Former German leader Gerhard Schröder receiving treatment for burnout Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has faced heavy criticism in recent years for his ties with Russia, is receiving treatment in a hospital for burnout, German news agency dpa reported Tuesday.
On Tuesday, dpa cited a doctor's assessment that Schröder is “suffering from severe burnout syndrome with the typical signs of profound exhaustion and a pronounced lack of energy.” It reported that Schröder's lawyer, Hans-Peter Huber, said he had gone into clinical treatment on the advice of the doctor.
Schröder was supposed to be questioned last month by a parliamentary commission of inquiry in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania into the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, whose board of directors he headed.
But his involvement with Russian state-owned energy companies and his reluctance after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine to distance himself wholeheartedly from Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has long had a friendly relationship, estranged him from the German political establishment.
He was the leader of current Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democratic Party from 1999 to 2004.
