German president under pressure to step down
BERLIN. January 4. KAZINFORM German President Christian Wulff, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, faced mounting pressure to step down on Tuesday for a home loan scandal and allegations he tried to stifle a relevant newspaper report; Kazinform refers to China Daily.
Wulff, 52, has been under intensive fire after allegations that he tried to stop revelations by Germany's most-read newspaper Bild last month over a personal loan of 500,000 euros ($651,950) he received from the wife of a business friend to pay for a new home in 2008.
The crisis escalated when he left a message on the voicemail of Bild's editor Kai Diekmann, threatening legal action.
"The political grace period is over," said Thomas Oppermann, the parliamentary speaker of the main opposition center-left Social Democrats (SPD). "No President is above the law, and also must abide by the freedom of the press," he said.
It was "absolutely inappropriate when the President tried to prevent independent reporting," added Oppermann. "The election to the presidency is not a general amnesty for past violations of laws or a license for further action."
Oppermann's party colleague Sebastian Edathy cast doubts over the suitability of Wulff for the post, saying that Germany does not need a president who verbally agreed to the superiority of press freedom as a social merit but actually trod on it in daily life; Kazinform cites China Daily.
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