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Schroeder to learn English

Berlin: It is a dilemma all statesmen have to confront sooner or later: what to do after leaving office? On Tuesday Gerhard Schroeder, Germany's soon to be ex-Chancellor, came up with a novel solution to the problem by revealing he had enrolled on a two-week crash course in English. Mr Schroder (61), who leaves office next week after seven years at the helm of Europe's biggest economy, will fly to London for the course in early December, Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Tuesday. He has signalled his desire to return to his old job as a lawyer and is already spending several hours a day studying ``legal English'', the newspaper said. On Tuesday a spokesman in the chancellery in Berlin — Germany's equivalent of Downing Street — refused to say where Mr. Schroeder would be studying. ``It's a private matter,'' he told the Guardian. But news of Mr. Schroeder's London visit is unlikely to delight British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mr. Blair has scarcely been on speaking terms with the man he once addressed as ``Gerd'' since they fell out over Iraq and reform of the E.U. budget.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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