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The Federal Government's Eastern Commissioner, Marco Wanderwitz, has sharply criticized the intention of the former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, to run for the CDU for the Bundestag.

“This is insane,” said the Saxon CDU member of the Bundestag to the editorial network Germany.

"From my point of view, Mr. Maassen has long been incompatible with the Christian Democratic Union in terms of style and content," added Wanderwitz.

Maaßen had announced that he would move into the Bundestag for the CDU in September.

He wanted to run for constituency 196 in southern Thuringia, the 58-year-old confirmed on Thursday on dpa request.

In this constituency, Mark Hauptmann, who has since resigned from the party, was elected in the 2017 Bundestag election, against whom an investigation is pending in the Union's mask affair.

The proposal sparked controversial debates, especially on the Internet.

The decision lies with the district associations

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Christian Hirte, head of the Thuringian CDU, tweeted on Friday: “I don't share many points of view and Maassen's style.

For the CDU Thuringia one thing is certain: Politics for Thuringia without AfD and the left! ”The decision on the Bundestag candidate lies with the statutes of the delegates of the four CDU district associations in southern Thuringia.

The constituency 196 includes Schmalkalden-Meiningen, the district associations Hildburghausen and Sonneberg as well as the independent city of Suhl.

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.

In 2018 Maaßen came under fire after relativizing 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.