Former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on the upcoming decision between "more or less Europe".
Wednesday, 20. April 2016, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
The major global threats and challenges currently arise from asymmetric violence, religious and ethnic conflicts and international terrorism. The refugee flows are a consequence of this situation. The solution can only lie in multilateral action by the international community. This also forces politics on our continent to choose between a "more or less Europe".
Gerhard Schröder, born in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1944, was the seventh Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1998 to 2005. He is a lawyer and joined the SPD in 1963, for which he first sat in the German Bundestag from 1980 to 1986. From 1990 to 1998 he was Minister President of Lower Saxony. In 1998, he was elected Chancellor after the SPD won over 40% of the vote in the state elections. Subsequently, Schröder formed a red-green coalition in the Bundestag for the first time in history. His chancellorship was marked by comprehensive social reforms: Modernisation of citizenship law, tax reform, pension reform, nuclear phase-out, eco-tax and various initiatives in education. In addition, under Chancellor Schröder, Germany increasingly assumed international responsibility. Today, Schröder again works as a lawyer in Hanover and holds numerous honorary offices, including patron of the association "Gesicht Zeigen!" against xenophobia. He is also chairman of Nord Stream AG, which operates a gas pipeline between Western Europe and Russia.