Germans quiz Schroeder pipeline deal

BERLIN (AFP) — Critics of former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have lambasted him for accepting the chairmanship of the German-Russian gas pipeline project after his government guaranteed credit for the venture.

"This affair stinks terribly," said Guido Westerwelle, president of the right-of-center opposition Free Democrat party, who has already been sued by Schroeder for previous attacks about this affair.

The economy ministry confirmed Saturday that the Schroeder government had guaranteed a credit of one billion euros (1.2 billion dollars) for the Russian group Gazprom's Baltic pipeline project.

An inter-ministerial commission rushed through a "decision in principle" on October 24 last year while waiting for a new coalition to be formed by now Chancellor Angela Merkel, a spokesman for the economy minister said, confirming a report published Saturday in the Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).

Gazprom's hiring of Schroeder last December at an annual salary of 250,000 euros ...