Latest update: 31/05/2010 

- German politics


German President Horst Koehler to step down

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German President Horst Koehler (pictured) said on Monday that he was stepping down in a move that follows recent criticism of comments he made about the German mission in Afghanistan.

By Abby D'ARCY HUGHES (video)
News Wires (text)
 

AFP - Germany's president Horst Koehler said Monday he was stepping down, following criticism of recent comments he made about the country's mission in Afghanistan.
   
"I am resigning my post as federal president," Koehler, 67, whose job is largely ceremonial, said in Berlin.
   
Koehler came under fire for saying that an export-reliant country like Germany, occasionally needed to defend its economic interests by preventing regional instabilities like that in Afghanistan.
   
Such regional instabilities "certainly have a negative impact on us through trade, jobs and income," Koehler told German radio on May 22.
   
A former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Koehler was elected to the post of president in 2004 and re-elected in 2009.
   
Polls show that a majority of Germans are opposed to the mission in Afghanistan.

 

Date created : 31/05/2010 
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