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| German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives to give a statement at the CDU headquarters in Berlin |
Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted on Monday she had misjudged her response to allegations of far-right sympathies against Germanyโs spymaster, after resolving a row over his redeployment that threatened to pull her government apart.
BfV intelligence agency head Hans-Georg Maassenโs political views came under the microscope this month after he questioned the authenticity of video footage showing radicals hounding migrants in the eastern city of Chemnitz.
Merkelโs Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) sister party and the third coalition partner โ the centre-left Social Democracts (SPD) โ agreed last week to transfer Maassen to a senior role in the Interior Ministry.
But that prompted a public blacklash when it emerged that Maassen would also get a pay rise. The coalition rescinded the hike on Sunday, after some members of the SPD called for their party to quit the alliance if it stayed in place.
โI focused too much on functionality and processes in the interior ministry and not enough on what moves people, rightly, when they hear of someoneโs promotion,โ Merkel told reporters, a year to the day after an inconclusive national election consigned the country to six months of political limbo.
โI regret very much that that was allowed to happenโฆ It is important that we now solve the problems of the people.โ
LIMPING ON
The dispute had irritated Germans worried about more immediate issues such as rising real estate prices, prospects for pensions and a diesel emissions scandal, and frustrated authorities in Brussels used to Berlin playing a lead role in major euro zone issues.
It also added to doubts over whether the ruling parties, weakened after all losing ground in last autumnโs election, can hold together for a full four-year term.
The clumsy compromise over Maassen, who has not commented in public about the allegations against him, unravelled on Friday when SPD leader Andrea Nahles said it was a mistake.
A poll last week showed that 72 per cent of voters had less confidence in the government as a result.
Support for all three parties has fallen since the election and there is little appetite among them for another ballot that polls suggest would strengthen the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The coalition came close to collapsing in June over a dispute over immigration and border controls.
The CSU has toughened its line on the issue before a regional election in Bavaria next month in which it faces a tough challenge from the anti-immigration AfD.
EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, a member of Merkelโs CDU, complained in an interview on Sunday that a year in Europe had been wasted since Germanyโs last federal election. He said other EU countries expected the government of its largest economy to finally start tackling European issues.
