Despite leaving office years ago, Merkel and Schröder continue to employ a combined staff of 17, including high-ranking officials earning over €11,000 a month—at public expense.
Official surveillance, apparently conducted without Berlin’s authorisation, continued at least until 2014 and contradicted Berlin’s public criticism of U.S. espionage practices.
The ex-Chancellor accuses Poland and Baltic states of blocking an EU-Russia dialogue in 2021, effectively stoking the flames of the following year’s Ukraine invasion.
