Germany's head of state just resigned

[acari]

So our head of state, Bundespräsident Horst Köhler, just resigned. His role is mostly ceremonial, though. The political power has the chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Mr. Köhler, who was less than a year into his second term as president, shocked Germans earlier this month when he said that the country’s soldiers serving in Afghanistan or other peacekeeping missions were deployed to protect German economic interests.

“A country of our size, with its focus on exports and thus reliance on foreign trade, must be aware that military deployments are necessary in an emergency to protect our interests, for example, when it comes to trade routes, for example, when it comes to preventing regional instabilities that could negatively influence our trade, jobs and incomes,” Mr. Köhler said. [NY Times]

He later said he meant the protection of shipping routes along the Gulf of Aden against piracy, for example, and not any reference to Germany's role in Afghanistan. But his comments came in for widespread criticism.

Koehler said the criticism showed a lack of respect for the president's office. [CNN]

To be honest, this is ridiculous. I can hardly believe it isn't some elaborate hoax.

Comments

[yvi]

Heh, I love ho we even both posted with the same icon.

To be honest, this is ridiculous. I can hardly believe it isn't some elaborate hoax.

I also had to first check whether it was April 1.

I am also a bit miffed that that translation leaves out the "im Zweifel, im Notfall" part. That was a very interesting way to phrase that.

He complained that some critics had suggested he supported military “missions that are not covered by the Constitution.”

“This criticism lacks any basis,” he said. “It also is lacking in the necessary respect for the presidential office.”

Oh my... "suggested"? I would have done more than just suggest that. "lacks any basis"? Has he read the Constitution?

Artikel 87a (2)

(2) Außer zur Verteidigung dürfen die Streitkräfte nur eingesetzt werden, soweit dieses Grundgesetz es ausdrücklich zuläßt.

Basically, unless Germany is attacked, the military is only permitted to be involved in what is explicitly stated in the Constitution - protecting our economic interests is very much not covered. When it comes to other countries, it actually mostly only covers sending our police there, not soldiers.

Erm, yeah, not a fan of German's politics regarding this in the past 10 years. It feels very much like "lulling people until they don't even notice we are actually fighting wars again".