Reactions to Maaßen change: "Unbelievable Mauschelei"

The meeting of the coalition leaders in the Chancellery took almost two hours, and in the end it came out, what was previously acted as a minimal solution to a departure of Hans-Georg Maaßen.

The President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not simply deposed. He is praised, promoted to a higher salary level, as Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of the Interior by Horst Seehofer (CSU).

For Maassen it is a comparatively benign outcome, because he was under pressure from the opposition and the people, but above all from the governing party SPD. Shortly after the announcement of the decision, representatives of the opposition reacted in the Bundestag, but also in some cases members of the ruling parties.

Green Party leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt commented: "This is an incomprehensible Mauschelei.Who disloyal behavior and cuddling with the AfD rewarded instead of punishing, has lost all sense of decorum and the SPD is doing everything."

FDP leader Christian Lindner said that the promotion of Maaßens is a "formulaic pseudo solution, either one trusts him or not." The "theater" in the end only reveals that "the coalition has no line and no consequence".

For the AfD, the deputy leader of the group, Beatrix von Storch, attacked the grand coalition flat on Twitter and accused her of a "chase" on Maassen, who had said "the truth". Stork ordered the promotion as follows: "Seehofer praises him on State Secretary's post, so that SPD pro forma get their way."

For the SPD, their deputy Johannes Kahrs recalled that his party had prevailed with the demand for the dismissal of Maaßens. The now promoted to the Ministry of the Interior, show the "weakness of Merkel".

the spd prevails. the weakness merkels allows the promotion of maassens in the bmi.
Agreement of the Grand Coalition: Maassen has to go as the chief of the constitutional protection - and becomes the state secret ... https://t.co/vdzx4cvQ3Y via @SPIEGELONLINE

From the SPD, however, there were also critical voices.

For example, Saxony's Deputy Prime Minister Martin Dulig wrote on Twitter:

I think it's a brazen solution. It is not about Mr. # maaßen, but about the trust in the rule of law. With this step, Mr. Seehofer achieves the opposite. It is a naughty thing. And the union-internal dismantling of #bundeskanzlerin #merkel continues.

Stefan Engel, regional chairman of the Jusos in Saxony, anticipated Maaßens future remuneration on Twitter, a "clear jump from 11,577 to 14,157 euros per month". He asked the governing parties: "Dear CDU / CSU, dear SPD, is it still working?"

Tauber on a successor: "He does not have to give interviews ..."

Peter Tauber, member of the Bundestag of the CDU, looked back and forth. Referring to Maaßens questionable quotes in the conversation with the "Bild" newspaper, which ultimately initiated his fall, wrote Tauber: "I wish for a president of the constitution protection, before the enemies of our constitution are afraid. Interviews, he must not give .. . ".

Trigger of the dismissal Maaßens were his remarks about the incidents in Chemnitz in the "image". In the Saxon city, after the killing of a German, presumably by asylum seekers, it came to parades of right-wing groups. Maaßen had said that there was "no reliable information" for "hunts" on foreigners.

The reproach to Maaßen: He had played down the riots with it and thus played right-wing groups in the hands. In addition, there is a massive loss of trust in the authority. The SPD demanded the dismissal because it no longer believed it could protect the democracy sufficiently against right attacks. CSU boss Seehofer publicly expressed his confidence.