Merkel faces new coalition war over call to sack spy chief
German government in crisis as intelligence head contradicts chancellor’s neo-Nazi condemnation
ANGELA MERKEL is fighting off yet another government crisis in Germany after a rift opened up within her coalition over an intelligence scandal.
The German chancellor will hold emergency talks on Tuesday to keep her government together, as coalition partners warred over whether she should sack the country’s head of domestic intelligence.
The new row comes as fresh antimigrant protests were planned today by the anti-Islam Pegida organisation and a far-Right protester was jailed on Friday for five months for giving a Nazi salute during an earlier protest in the eastern German city of Chemnitz.
At the heart of the coalition row is Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of domestic intelligence service, the BfV, who publicly contradicted Mrs Merkel over neo-Nazi protests in Chemnitz.
The chancellor’s main coalition partners, the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD), are demanding Mr Maassen be fired for what they say was a blatant attempt to interfere in politics.
But the intelligence chief is being shielded by Horst Seehofer, the controversial interior minister and leader of Mrs Merkel’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).
Anti-immigrant tensions are being stoked both on the streets and in government, as Germany’s largest opposition party, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), helped organise protests and condemned Mrs Merkel’s open-door refugee policy as being responsible for the unrest.
A demonstration, organised by Pegida, is scheduled in Koethen, around 100 miles from Chemnitz, for this afternoon.
Mrs Merkel may have hoped she had put the threat to her government behind her when she bested Mr Seehofer in a power struggle over migrant policy in the early summer, but she returned from her holidays to the same dilemma.
She cannot dismiss her rebellious intelligence chief without firing the interior minister as well. If Mr Seehofer is sacked, there is a risk he will take his party out of the coalition.
All three coalition parties want to avoid a break-up of the government, because polls suggest they would all suffer heavy losses in a new election.
However, many within the SPD are calling for the party to pull out of the coalition if it does not get its way over Mr Maassen.
The dispute centres on his remarks to Bild newspaper in which he claimed there was no evidence to back media reports foreigners were “hunted” during the protests in Chemnitz – directly contradicting Mrs Merkel, who had condemned “hate on the streets”.
Mr Maassen claimed a widely distributed video of foreigners being attacked could have been forged. But summoned to parliament this week to explain his remarks, he admitted he had no evidence the video was fake and was only suggesting the possibility.
Leaked police reports from Chemnitz also described 100 “hooded men” searching for foreigners, and an attack on a Jewish restaurant in the city.
Attention has also focused on meetings Mr Maassen held with AfD leaders, and allegations he passed confidential intelligence to the party.
“It is absolutely clear to the SPD that Maassen must go. Merkel has to act now,” Lars Klingbeil, the SPD chairman, said. But Mr Seehofer has dug his heels in. Emergency talks held on Thursday ended without a breakthrough and will resume on Tuesday.