Schroeder embarks on new career

By Ray Furlong
BBC News, Berlin

Mr Schroeder is not planning on retirement yet

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has got a new job as a consultant to a Swiss publishing firm.

Publishing house Ringier says he will advise on international affairs.

He will also be resuming his original career as a lawyer, and writing a book about his life.

According to the German media, Mr Schroeder used his first day of freedom to get up late and go for a stroll on Berlin's famous Unter den Linden avenue - before resigning from Parliament.

But in future, he plans to get busy again.

It has been announced that he will be an adviser on international political affairs to Michael Ringier, whose Zurich-based publishing house of the same name produces a top-selling tabloid in Switzerland as well as publishing in eastern Europe and China.

In a statement, Ringier also said Mr Schroeder would resume work in his Berlin legal practice and write an autobiography.

During the election campaign, Mr Schroeder had said his options were "victory or Viktoria", a reference to his four-year-old adopted daughter.

Clearly, this does not mean becoming a house-husband. As a former chancellor, Mr Schroeder gets an office in Germany for the rest of his life.

He will now be shuttling between this one and his new bureau near Lake Zurich.