 For Schürer leadership of the Planning Commission was accompanied by membership of the presidium of the Council of Ministers and, after 1966, co-chairmanship of the East German-Soviet Parity Commission for economic and technical collaboration.The Leninist precepts of East German constitution set out the "leading role" of the party in unambiguous terms, although the stark reality of the party's leading role was blurred to the extent that Party Central Committee members often combined their party roles with membership of the National parliament or ministerial office.Nevertheless, it was membership of the Party Central Committee, between 1963 and 1989, which placed Gerhard Schürer at the heart of the East German power structure.