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The former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, wants to run for the CDU in the Bundestag election in September.

He confirmed this to "Bild", which reported at the same time that the candidacy had been decided in a digital switch by the Thuringian CDU leadership on Wednesday evening.

Maaßen is to be set up in the constituency 196 Suhl - Schmalkalden-Meiningen - Hildburghausen - Sonneberg and thus inherit from Mark Hauptmann.

Hauptmann had resigned his parliamentary mandate after allegations of corruption in connection with mask business and had also resigned from the CDU.

The delegates' conference in the constituency decides on Maassen's final candidacy.

Maaßen, who comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, headed the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 2012 to 2018.

Before that, he had worked in various departments in the Federal Ministry of the Interior since 1991, from 2008 as head of the counter-terrorism staff.

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Maaßen came under fire in 2018 after qualifying statements about right-wing extremist riots in Chemnitz.

He was replaced after much back and forth when he later also spoke of “left-wing radical forces” in the SPD.

In November 2018 he was put into temporary retirement at the request of Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU).

Maaßen advocates a tough course in migration policy.

After he lost his post as President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there was temporary speculation that he could join the AfD.

At that time there were also rumors about a possible CDU party exclusion procedure, which did not take place.

"We are not dealing with the standard Nazi"

Hate speech and radicalization on the Internet are considered to be partly responsible for acts like the one in Halle.

The former head of the protection of the constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, explains in the WELT studio talk how, in his opinion, one should deal with the problem.

Source: WORLD