German President comes under increasing criticism and calls to resign
Baku, January 7 (AZERTAC). German President comes under increasing criticism and calls to resign over a $649,000 real estate scandal in Germany.
German President Christian Wulff faced growing pressure to step aside on Tuesday after several conservative allies turned against him for trying to kill an embarrassing newspaper story on a home loan scandal.
Waning support from parties in Angela Merkel`s centre-right coalition, which voted Wulff into office 18 months ago, underscored how precarious his position is and raised the risk of the scandal becoming a major distraction for the chancellor as she grapples with the euro zone debt crisis.
Wulff`s resignation would reflect badly on Merkel as she pushed aggressively for his election over a popular opposition candidate in 2010. Finding a successor could also prove a headache, unleashing a divisive political debate when her government needs unity to combat the crisis.
The revelation on Monday that Wulff left an angry voicemail message for the editor of top-selling Bild daily threatening legal action and even “war” if he published a story on a private home loan Wulff agreed at cheap rates has unleashed outrage.
On Tuesday, reporters from another paper, Welt am Sonntag, said Wulff had tried to bully them, too, about a separate story.
The German president is supposed to act as a sort of moral compass for the nation, defending the laws set out in its post-war constitution, which include clear guidelines on press freedom.
Other news in this section
