German President says won’t serve a second term
Decision could trigger battle amongst Chancellor Merkel’s ruling coalition parties
Berlin, June 6: German President Joachim Gauck said on Monday that he would not serve a second five- year term, a decision which could trigger a battle between the parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition over who should succeed him.
Although the position of President is largely ceremonial in Germany, the selection of the last two heads of state has caused problems for Ms Merkel and it risks dividing her government in the run- up to the next federal election in 2017.
Ms Merkel initially opposed the appointment of Mr Gauck, a 76- year- old Lutheran pastor who played an important role in the peaceful protests in Communist East Germany that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
But she was forced to accept him when other parties, including her coalition partner at the time, the Free Democrats, came together and backed him. Her previous choice for the post, conservative politician Christian Wulff, was forced to resign in 2012 in a financial favours scandal. There was broad cross- party support for Mr Gauck to serve a second term, but he said on Monday that his age had been a factor in the decision, which he described as “not easy.”
“I’m thankful that I’m
‘ The search for a successor will start the general election campaign more than 15 months before the poll, a conflict that the Chancellor would have preferred to avoid,’ news website Spiegel Online said
well but at the same time I’m aware that the period between the 77th and 82nd year of one’s life is different to the one in which I find myself now,” he said, speaking at Bellevue presidential palace in Berlin. “I don’t want to presume an energy and vitality for another five years.”
The President is not directly elected by the people, but rather by a committee, the Federal Convention, which consists of members of the German Parliament and the same number of delegates sent from state parliaments.
That means that Ms Merkel must win the support of at least one other big party for her nominee. Any party can propose a candidate for President.
People whose names have been mentioned as possible successors to Mr Gauck are finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and foreign minister Frank- Walter Steinmeier.