President Köhler Quits over Military Remarks
In the middle of the euro crisis and growing pressure from both the opposition and her own party about how to manage the German contribution to the Greek and possible future bailouts, Chancellor Merkel was hit by bad news this week.
On Monday, 31 May 2010, German President Horst Köhler resigned in a surprise move over comments he had made in a radio interview on the role of the German military. Having given an interview to a journalist from Deutschlandfunk on a plane taking the President to a visit of the German troops in Afghanistan, Horst Köhler was criticized for seemingly suggesting that the German armed forces should be used to defend Germany’s commercial interests abroad.
Köhler said his remarks were misunderstood and that he certainly did not mean Afghanistan, but was speaking about the support of anti-piracy missions to secure German trade interests, for example. In his resignation speech in Berlin on Monday, Köhler said he was stepping down because of a lack of respect for the dignity of his office as President.
Köhler’s resignation was criticized widely by the media, politicians and the Germans. The resignation is also putting more domestic pressure on Chancellor Merkel.
Take a look at the comments in the German and international media:
“German President Quits Over Remarks on Military” (Judy Dempsey in the International Herald Tribune, 31 May 2010).
“Horst Köhler ‘Has Acted with Extreme Negligence’” (The World from Berlin, Review of the leading German newspapers delivered by Spiegel Online International, 1 June 2010).
“Merkel’s Search for New German President Full of Potential Pitfalls” (Spiegel Online International, 1 June 2010).
“Angela Merkel is Flying Completely Blind” (The World from Berlin, Review of the leading German newspapers delivered by Spiegel Online International, 2 June 2010).
“Merkel’s Favourite for German Presidency Loses Out” (Judy Dempsey in the International Herald Tribune, 3 June 2010).
“A Sheep in Wulff’s Clothing: Merkels Candidate for German President” (Spiegel Online International, 4 June 2010).