Gerhard Schröder took which position from Nov 1997 to Oct 1998?
Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder ( ; born 7 April 1944 ) is a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005 , during which his most important political initiative was Agenda 2010 . As the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ) , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens . Schröder has been chairman of Russian energy company Rosneft since 2017 . Before becoming a full-time politician , he was a lawyer , and before becoming Chancellor he served as Prime Minister of Lower Saxony ( 1990–1998 ) . Following the 2005 federal election , which his party lost , after three weeks of negotiations he stood down as Chancellor in favour of Angela Merkel of the rival Christian Democratic Union . He is currently the chairman of the board of Nord Stream AG and of Rosneft , after having been hired as a global manager by investment bank Rothschild , and also the chairman of the board of football club Hannover 96 . Early life and education . Schröder was born in Blomberg , Lippe , Greater German Reich . His father , Fritz Schröder , a lance corporal in the Wehrmacht , was killed in action in World War II in Romania on 4 October 1944 , almost six months after Gerhards birth . His mother , Erika ( née Vosseler ) , worked as an agricultural laborer to support herself and her two sons . Schröder completed an apprenticeship in retail sales in a Lemgo hardware shop from 1958 to 1961 and subsequently worked in a Lage retail shop and after that as an unskilled construction worker and a sales clerk in Göttingen while studying at night school for a general qualification for university entrance ( Abitur ) . He did not have to do military service because his father had died in the war . In 1966 , Schröder secured entrance to a university , passing the Abitur exam at Westfalen-Kolleg , Bielefeld . From 1966 to 1971 he studied law at the University of Göttingen . From 1972 onwards , Schröder served as teaching assistant at the university . In 1976 , he passed his second law examination , and he subsequently worked as a lawyer until 1990 . Among his more controversial cases , Schröder helped Horst Mahler , a founding member of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group , to secure both an early release from prison and permission to practice law again in Germany . Early political career . Schröder joined the Social Democratic Party in 1963 . In 1978 he became the federal chairman of the Young Socialists , the youth organisation of the SPD . He spoke for the dissident Rudolf Bahro , as did President Jimmy Carter , Herbert Marcuse , and Wolf Biermann . Member of the German Bundestag , 1980–1986 . In 1980 , Schröder was elected to the German Bundestag ( federal parliament ) , where he wore a sweater instead of the traditional suit . Under the leadership of successive chairmen Herbert Wehner ( 1980–83 ) and Hans-Jochen Vogel ( 1983–86 ) , he served in the SPD parliamentary group . He also became chairman of the SPD Hanover district . Considered ambitious from early on in his political career , it was widely reported and never denied , that in 1982 , a drunken Schröder stood outside the West German federal chancellery yelling : I want to get in . That same year , he wrote an article on the idea of a red/green coalition for a book at Olle & Wolter , Berlin ; this appeared later in Die Zeit . Chancellor Willy Brandt , the SPD and SI chairman , who reviewed Olle & Wolter at that time , had just asked for more books on the subject . In 1985 , Schröder met the GDR leader Erich Honecker during a visit to East Berlin . In 1986 , Schröder was elected to the parliament of Lower Saxony and became leader of the SPD group . Minister-President of Lower Saxony , 1990–1998 . After the SPD won the state elections in June 1990 , Schröder became Minister-President of Lower Saxony as head of an SPD-Greens coalition ; in this position , he also won the 1994 and 1998 state elections . He was subsequently also appointed to the supervisory board of Volkswagen , the largest company in Lower Saxony and of which the state of Lower Saxony is a major stockholder . Following his election as Minister-President in 1990 , Schröder also became a member of the board of the federal SPD . In 1997 and 1998 , he served as President of the Bundesrat . Between 1994 and 1998 , he was also chairman of Lower Saxonian SPD . During Schröders time in office , first in coalition with the environmentalist Green Party , then with a clear majority , Lower Saxony became one of the most deficit-ridden of Germanys 16 federal states and unemployment rose higher than the national average of 12 percent . Ahead of the 1994 elections , SPD chairman Rudolf Scharping included Schröder in his shadow cabinet for the partys campaign to unseat incumbent Helmut Kohl as Chancellor . During the campaign , Schröder served as shadow minister of economic affairs , energy and transport . In 1996 , Schröder caused controversy by taking a free ride on the Volkswagen corporate jet to attend the Vienna Opera Ball , along with Volkswagen CEO Ferdinand Piëch . The following year , he nationalized a big steel mill in Lower Saxony to preserve jobs . In the 1998 state elections , Schöders Social Democrats increased their share of the vote by about four percentage points over the 44.3 percent they recorded in the previous elections in 1994 – a postwar record for the party in Lower Saxony that reversed a string of Social Democrat reversals in state elections elsewhere . Chancellor of Germany , 1998–2005 . First term , 1998–2002 Following the 1998 national elections , Schröder became Chancellor as head of an SPD-Green coalition . Throughout his campaign for Chancellor , he portrayed himself as a pragmatic new Social Democrat who would promote economic growth while strengthening Germanys generous social welfare system . After the resignation of Oskar Lafontaine as SPD Chairman in March 1999 , in protest at Schröders adoption of a number of what Lafontaine considered neo-liberal policies , Schröder took over his rivals office as well . In April 1999 , in Germanys first session in the restored Reichstag , to applause he quoted Albanian writer Ismail Kadare , saying : The Balkans is the yard of the European house , and in no house can peace prevail so long as people kill each other in its yard . he In a move meant to signal a deepening alliance between Schröder and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom , the two leaders issued an eighteen-page manifesto for economic reform in June 1999 . Titled Europe : The Third Way , or Die Neue Mitte in German , it called on Europes centre-left governments to cut taxes , pursue labour and welfare reforms and encourage entrepreneurship . The joint paper said European governments needed to adopt a supply-side agenda to respond to globalisation , the demands of capital markets and technological change . Schröders efforts backfired within his own party though , where its left-wing rejected the Schröder-Blair call for cutbacks to the welfare state and pro-business policies . Instead , the paper took part of the blame for a succession of six German state election losses in 1999 for the Social Democratic Party . Only by 2000 , Schröder managed to capitalise on the donations scandal of his Christian Democratic opposition to push through a landmark tax reform bill and re-establish his dominance of the German political scene . Schröders tenure oversaw the seat of government move from Bonn to Berlin . In May 2001 , Schröder moved to his new official residence , the Chancellery building in Berlin , almost two years after the city became the seat of the German Government . He had previously been working out of the building in eastern Berlin used by the former leaders of East Germany . Second term , 2002–2005 Throughout the build-up to the 2002 German election , the Social Democrats and the Green Party trailed the centre-right candidate Edmund Stoiber until the catastrophe caused by rising floodwater in Germany led to an improvement in his polling numbers . Furthermore , his popular opposition to a war in Iraq dominated campaigning in the run-up to the polls . At 22 September vote , he secured another four-year term , with a narrow nine-seat majority ( down from 21 ) . In February 2004 , Schröder resigned as chairman of the SPD amid growing criticism from across his own party of his reform agenda ; Franz Müntefering succeeded him as chairman . On 22 May 2005 , after the SPD lost to the Christian Democrats ( CDU ) in North Rhine-Westphalia , Gerhard Schröder announced he would call federal elections as soon as possible . A motion of confidence was subsequently defeated in the Bundestag on 1 July 2005 by 151 to 296 ( with 148 abstaining ) , after Schröder urged members not to vote for his government in order to trigger new elections . In response , a grouping of left-wing SPD dissidents and the neo-communist Party of Democratic Socialism agreed to run on a joint ticket in the general election , with Schröders rival Oskar Lafontaine leading the new group . The 2005 German federal elections were held on 18 September . After the elections , neither Schröders SPD-Green coalition nor the alliance between CDU/CSU and the FDP led by Angela Merkel achieved a majority in parliament , but the CDU/CSU had a stronger popular electoral lead by one percentage point . On election night , both Schröder and Merkel claimed victory and chancellorship , but after initially ruling out a grand coalition with Merkel , Schröder and Müntefering entered negotiations with her and the CSUs Edmund Stoiber . On 10 October , it was announced that the parties had agreed to form a grand coalition . Schröder agreed to cede the chancellorship to Merkel , but the SPD would hold the majority of government posts and retain considerable control of government policy . Merkel was elected chancellor on 22 November . On 11 October 2005 , Schröder announced that he would not take a post in the new Cabinet and , in November , he confirmed that he would leave politics as soon as Merkel took office . On 23 November 2005 , he resigned his Bundestag seat . On 14 November 2005 , at a SPD conference in Karlsruhe , Schröder urged members of the SPD to support the proposed coalition , saying it carries unmistakably , perhaps primarily , the imprint of the Social Democrats . Many SPD members had previously indicated that they supported the coalition , which would have continued the policies of Schröders government , but had objected to Angela Merkel replacing him as Chancellor . The conference voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal . Domestic policies . In his first term , Schröders government decided to phase out nuclear power , fund renewable energies , institute civil unions for same-sex partners , and liberalise the naturalization law . During Schröders time in office , economic growth slowed to only 0.2% in 2002 and Gross Domestic Product shrank in 2003 , while German unemployment was over the 10% mark . Most voters soon associated Schröder with the Agenda 2010 reform program , which included cuts in the social welfare system ( national health insurance , unemployment payments , pensions ) , lower taxes , and reformed regulations on employment and payment . He also eliminated capital gains tax on the sale of corporate stocks and thereby made the country more attractive to foreign investors . After the 2002 election , the SPD steadily lost support in opinion polls . Many increasingly perceived Schröders Third Way program to be a dismantling of the German welfare state . Moreover , Germanys high unemployment rate remained a serious problem for the government . Schröders tax policies were also unpopular ; when the satirical radio show The Gerd Show released Der Steuersong , featuring Schröders voice ( by impressionist Elmar Brandt ) lampooning Germanys indirect taxation with the lyrics Dog tax , tobacco tax , emissions and environmental tax , did you really think more werent coming? , it became Germanys 2002 Christmas #1 hit and sold over a million copies . The fact that Schröder served on the Volkswagen board ( a position that came with his position as minister-president of Lower Saxony ) and tended to prefer pro-car policies led to him being nicknamed the Auto-Kanzler ( car chancellor ) . European integration . In 1997 , Schröder joined the ministers-president of two other German states , Kurt Biedenkopf and Edmund Stoiber , in making the case for a five-year delay in Europes currency union . After taking office , he made his first official trip overseas to France for meetings with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in October 1998 . A 2001 meeting held by both leaders in Blaesheim later gave the name to a regular series of informal meetings between the French President , the German Chancellor , and their foreign ministers . The meetings were held alternately in France and Germany . At the fortieth anniversary of the Elysée Treaty , both sides agreed that rather than summits being held twice a year , there would now be regular meetings of a council of French and German ministers overseen by their respective foreign affairs ministers . In an unprecedented move , Chirac formally agreed to represent Schröder in his absence at a European Council meeting in October 2003 . In his first months in office , Schröder vigorously demanded that Germanys net annual contribution of about $12,000,000,000 to the budget of the European Union be cut , saying his country was paying most for European waste . He later moderated his views when his government held the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 1999 . In 2003 , Schröder and Chirac agreed to share power in the institutions of the European Union between a President of the European Commission , elected by the European Parliament , and a full-time President of the European Council , chosen by heads of state and government ; their agreement later formed the basis of discussions at the Convention on the Future of Europe and became law with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon . Ahead of the French referendum on a European Constitution , Schröder joined Chirac in urging French voters to back the new treaty , which would have enshrined new rules for the expanded EU of 25 member states and widened the areas of collective action . Also in 2003 , both Schröder and Chirac forced a suspension of sanctions both faced for breaching the European Unions fiscal rules that underpin the euro – the Stability and Growth Pact – for three years in a row . Schröder later called for a revision of the Lisbon Strategy and thereby a retreat from Europes goal of overtaking the United States as the worlds most competitive economy by 2010 . Instead , he urged the EU to reform the Pact to encourage growth , and to seek the reorientation of the €100,000,000,000 annual EU budget towards research and innovation . By 2005 , he had successfully pushed for an agreement on sweeping plans to rewrite the Pact , which now allowed EU members with deficits above the original 3% of GDP limit to cite the costs of the reunification of Europe as a mitigating factor . Schröder was regarded a strong ally of Prime Minister Leszek Miller of Poland and supporter of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union . On 1 August 2004 , the sixtieth anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising , he apologised to Poland for the immeasurable suffering of its people during the conflict ; he was the first German Chancellor to be invited to an anniversary of the uprising . Both Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also supported the accession of Turkey to the European Union . Foreign policy . Marking a clear break with the caution of German foreign policy since World War II , Schröder laid out in 1999 his vision of the countrys international role , describing Germany as a great power in Europe that would not hesitate to pursue its national interests . Schröder also began seeking a resolution ways to compensate Nazi-era slave labourers almost as soon as he was elected Chancellor . Reversing the hard-line stance of his predecessor , Helmut Kohl , he agreed to the government contributing alongside industry to a fund that would compensate people forced to work in German factories by the Nazi regime and appointed Otto Graf Lambsdorff to represent German industry in the negotiations with survivors organisations , American lawyers and the U.S . government . Schröder sent forces to Kosovo and to Afghanistan as part of NATO operations . Until Schröders chancellorship , German troops had not taken part in combat actions since World War II . In May 2019 at WORLD.MINDS in Belgrade , 20 years to the day after the bombing of Belgrade by NATO troops , Schröder stated unequivocally that in retrospect , if he had to make the decision again , he would authorize the aerial bombardment of the former Yugoslavia again . Schröder said that the easiest solution would be to first accept Serbia into the European Union and then within , as an integral part the EU , find a solution [ to the Kosovo issue ] . With Germany having a long experience with terrorism itself , Schröder declared solidarity with the United States after the September 11 attacks in 2001 . When Schröder left office , Germany had 2,000 troops in Afghanistan , the largest contingent from any nation other than the United States , UK , France , Canada and after two years Afghanistan . Relations with the Middle East During their time in government , both Schröder and his foreign minister Joschka Fischer were widely considered sincerely , if not uncritically , pro-Israel . Schröder represented the German government at the funeral service for King Hussein of Jordan in Amman on 9 February 1999 . When British planes joined United States forces bombing Iraq without consulting the United Nations Security Council in December 1998 , Schröder endorsed the military action unequivocally . Along with French President Jacques Chirac and many other world leaders , Schröder later spoke out strongly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and refused any military assistance in that enterprise . Schröders stance caused political friction between the US and Germany , in particular because he used this topic for his 2002 election campaign . Schröders stance set the stage for alleged anti-American statements by members of the SPD . The parliamentary leader of the SPD , Ludwig Stiegler , compared US President George W . Bush to Julius Caesar while Schröders Minister of Justice , Herta Däubler-Gmelin , likened Bushs foreign policy to that of Adolf Hitler . Schröders critics accused him of enhancing , and campaigning on , anti-American sentiments in Germany . After his 2002 re-election , Schröder and Bush rarely met and their animosity was seen as a widening political gap between the US and Europe . Bush stated in his memoirs that Schröder initially promised to support the Iraq war but changed his mind with the upcoming German elections and public opinion strongly against the invasion , to which Schröder responded saying that Bush was not telling the truth . When asked in March 2003 if he were at all self-critical about his position on Iraq , Schröder replied , I very much regret there were excessive statements from himself and former members of his government ( which capitalised on the wars unpopularity ) . Relations with Russia On his first official trip to Russia in late-1998 , Schröder suggested that Germany was not likely to come up with more aid for the country . He also sought to detach himself from the close personal relationship that his predecessor , Helmut Kohl , had with Russian President Boris Yeltsin , saying that German-Russian relations should develop independently of concrete political figures . Soon after , however , he cultivated close ties with Yeltsins successor , President Vladimir Putin , in an attempt to strengthen the strategic partnership between Berlin and Moscow , including the opening of a gas pipeline from Russian Dan Marino-Pipelines over the Baltic Sea exclusively between Russia and Germany ( see Gazprom controversy below ) . During his time in office , he visited the country five times . Schröder was criticised in the media , and subsequently by Angela Merkel , for calling Putin a flawless democrat on 22 November 2004 , only days before Putin prematurely congratulated Viktor Yanukovich during the Orange Revolution . In 2005 , Schröder suggested at the ceremonial introduction of the Airbus A380 in Toulouse that there was still room in the boat of EADS for Russia . Only a few days after his chancellorship , Schröder joined the board of directors of the Nord Stream joint venture , thus bringing about new speculations about his prior objectivity . In his memoirs Decisions : My Life in Politics , Schröder still defends his friend and political ally , and states that it would be wrong to place excessive demands on Russia when it comes to the rate of domestic political reform and democratic development , or to judge it solely on the basis of the Chechnya conflict . Relations with China During his time in office , Schröder visited China six times . He was the first Western politician to travel to Beijing and apologise after NATO jets had mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999 . In 2004 , he and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao established a secure , direct telephone line . He also pressed for the lifting of the EU arms embargo on China . Life after politics . Schröder rents an apartment in Berlin while retaining his primary residence in Hanover . As a former Chancellor , he is entitled to a permanent office , also situated in Berlin . In late 2005 , he spent time in the UK improving his English language skills . Representative role . After leaving public office , Schröder represented Germany at the funeral services for Boris Yeltsin in Moscow ( jointly with Horst Köhler and Helmut Kohl , 2007 ) and Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba ( jointly with Egon Krenz , 2016 ) . Schröder and Kurt Biedenkopf served as mediators in a conflict over privatization plans at German railway operator Deutsche Bahn ; the plans eventually fell through . In 2016 , he was appointed by Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel to mediate ( alongside economist Bert Rürup ) in a dispute between two of Germanys leading retailers , Edeka and REWE Group , over the takeover of supermarket chain Kaisers Tengelmann . Following the release of German activist Peter Steudtner from a Turkish prison in October 2017 , German media reported that Schröder had acted as mediator in the conflict and , on the request of Gabriel , met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to secure the release . After the 2018 elections in Turkey , he represented the German government at Erdoğans swearing-in ceremony in Ankara . Business activities . Schröders plans after leaving office as Chancellor and resigning his Bundestag seat included resuming his law practice in Berlin , writing a book , and implementing plans for twin pipelines for Gazprom , Russias leading energy company . He was subsequently retained by the Swiss publisher Ringier AG as a consultant . Other board memberships include the following : - Herrenknecht , Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board ( since 2017 ) - Nord Stream , Chairman of the Shareholders Committee ( since 2006 ) - CargoBeamer , Member of the Advisory Board - N M Rothschild & Sons , Member of the European Advisory Council ( since 2006 ) - Hannover 96 , Chairman of the Supervisory Board ( 2016-2019 ) - TNK-BP , Member of the International Advisory Board ( 2009 ) Other activities . In addition , Schröder has held several other paid and unpaid positions since his retirement from German politics , including : - Berggruen Institute , Member of the Council for the Future of Europe and the 21st Century Council . - Bundesliga Foundation , Member of the Board of Trustees - German Cancer Research Center ( DKFZ ) , Member of the Advisory Council - Dresden Frauenkirche , Member of the Board of Trustees - Friedrich Ebert Foundation ( FES ) , Member - Mädchenchor Hannover Foundation , Member of the Board of Trustees - Museum Berggruen , Member of the International Council - German Near and Middle East Association ( NUMOV ) , Honorary Chairman of the Board - Wilhelm Busch Museum , Chairman of the Board of Trustees ( since 2013 ) - InterAction Council of Former Heads of State and Government , Member - International Willy Brandt Prize , Member of the Jury Criticism and controversies . Relationship with Gazprom and Rosneft . As Chancellor , Gerhard Schröder was a strong advocate of the Nord Stream pipeline project , which now supplies Russian gas directly to Germany , thereby bypassing transit countries . At the time of the German parliamentary election , according to Rick Noak of The Washington Post : On 24 October 2005 , just a few weeks before Schröder stepped down as Chancellor , the German government guaranteed to cover 1 billion euros of the Nord Stream project cost , should Gazprom default on a loan . However , this guarantee had never been used . Soon after stepping down as chancellor , Schröder accepted Gazproms nomination for the post of the head of the shareholders committee of Nord Stream AG , raising questions about a potential conflict of interest . German opposition parties expressed concern over the issue , as did the governments of countries over whose territory gas is currently pumped . In an editorial entitled Gerhard Schroeders Sellout , the American newspaper The Washington Post also expressed sharp criticism , reflecting widening international ramifications of Schröders new post . Democrat Tom Lantos , chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs , likened Schröder to a political prostitute for his recent behaviour . In January 2009 , the Wall Street Journal reported that Schröder would join the board of the oil company TNK-BP , a joint venture between oil major BP and Russian partners . In 2016 , Schröder switched to become manager of Nord Stream 2 , an expansion of the original pipeline in which Gazprom is sole shareholder . In 2017 , Russia nominated Schröder to also serve as an independent director of the board of its biggest oil producer Rosneft . At the time , Rosneft was under Western sanctions over Russias role in the Ukraine crisis . Schröder told Blick that he would be paid about $350,000 annually for the part-time post . His decision caused an outcry in Germany and abroad , especially in a climate of fear about any potential Russian interference in the 2017 German elections . German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized her predecessor , saying I do not think what Mr Schröder is doing is okay . Defamation lawsuit ( 2002 ) . In April 2002 , Schröder sued the DDP press agency for publishing an opinion of public relations consultant Sabine Schwind saying that he would be more credible if he didnt dye his gray hair . The court decided to ban the media from suggesting that he colours his hair . The Chancellors spokesman said : This is not a frivolous action taken over whether he does or doesnt dye his hair , but is a serious issue regarding his word . The agencys lawyer said that they could not accept a verdict which does not coincide with freedom of the press . Dispute over Estonian war memorial . During a heated dispute between Russia and Estonia in May 2007 over the removal of a Soviet-era war memorial from the centre of the Estonian capital Tallinn to a military cemetery , Schröder defended the Kremlins reaction . He remarked that Estonia had contradicted every form of civilised behaviour . Consequently , the Estonian government cancelled a planned visit by Schröder in his function as chairman of Nord Stream AG , which promotes the petroleum pipeline from Russia to Germany . Comments on Kosovo independence . Schröder has criticised some European countries swift decision to recognise Kosovo as an independent state after it declared independence in February 2008 . He believes the decision was taken under heavy pressure from the US government and has caused more problems , including the weakening of the so-called pro-EU forces in Serbia . In August 2008 , Schröder laid the blame for the 2008 South Ossetia war squarely on Mikhail Saakashvili and the West , hinting at American foreknowledge and refusing to criticize any aspect of Russian policy which had thus far come to light . Comments on Crimean crisis . In March 2014 , Schröder likened Russias intervention in Crimea with NATOs intervention in Kosovo , citing both cases as violations of international law and the UN Charter . He further stated that there had been unhappy developments on the outskirts of the former Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War , leading Putin to develop justifiable fears about being encircled . On 13 March 2014 , an attempt by the German Green Party to ban Schröder from speaking in public about Ukraine was narrowly defeated in the European parliament . His decision to celebrate his 70th birthday party with Putin in Saint Petersburgs Yusupov Palace in late April elicited further criticism from several members of Merkels grand coalition , including human rights spokesperson . Paradise Papers . In November 2017 , an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited his name in the list of politicians named in Paradise Papers allegations . Personal life . Schröder has been married five times : - Eva Schubach ( married 1968 , divorced 1972 ) ; - Anne Taschenmacher ( married 1972 , divorced 1984 ) ; - Hiltrud Hampel ( Hillu ; married 1984 , divorced 1997 ) ; - Doris Köpf ( married 1997 , divorced 2018 ) ; - Kim So-yeon ( married 2018 ) Doris Köpf had a daughter from a previous relationship with a television journalist . She lived with the couple . In July 2004 , Schröder and Köpf adopted a child from Saint Petersburg . In 2006 , they adopted another child from Saint Petersburg . When not in Berlin , Schröder lives in Hanover . In 2013 , Schröder and Kopf purchased another home in Gümüşlük , Turkey , in a real estate project developed by Nicolas Berggruen . Schröders fourth marriage has earned him the nickname Audi Man , a reference to the four-ring symbol of Audi motorcars . Another nickname is The Lord of the Rings . Schröder married for the fifth time in 2018 . His wife is the Korean economist and interpreter Kim So-yeon . Schröder identifies himself as a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany , but does not appear to be religious . He did not add the optional phrase So wahr mir Gott helfe ( so help me God ) when sworn in as chancellor for his first term in 1998 . Schröder is known to be an avid art collector . He chose his friend Jörg Immendorff to paint his official portrait for the German Chancellery . The portrait , which was completed by Immendorffs assistants , was revealed to the public in January 2007 ; the massive work has ironic character , showing the former Chancellor in stern heroic pose , in the colors of the German flag , painted in the style of an icon , surrounded by little monkeys . These painter monkeys were a recurring theme in Immendorffs work , serving as an ironic commentary on the artists practice . On 14 June 2007 , Schröder gave a eulogy at a memorial service for Immendorf at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin . Awards and honours . - Order of the White Eagle ( Poland , 2002 ) - Schröder has been awarded honorary doctorates by - Tongji University in Shanghai ( 30 December 2002 ) , - St . Petersburg University ( June 2003 ) , - Marmara University in Istanbul ( 4 April 2005 ) and - University of Göttingen ( 14 June 2005 ) . - University of Damascus in Damascus , Syria . - Honorary citizen of Hanover ( 24 February 2006 ) - Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of Queen Jelena 24 April 2007 , for exceptional merit in the recognition of Croatia and the support of Croatia on the road to the EU . - Quadriga Prize ( 2007 ) - Elected a corresponding member of the Department of Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences ( 28 May 2008 ) - Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania - Order of the White Lion ( Czech Republic , 2017 ) - Order of the Golden Fleece ( Georgia )