The transfer of the head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) Hans-Georg Maassen to the German Interior Ministry shows a right-wing shift in the German government's policy, Alexander Neu, the Die Linke party spokesman in the Bundestag Defense Committee, told Sputnik on Wednesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2018) The transfer of the head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) Hans-Georg Maassen to the German Interior Ministry shows a right-wing shift in the German government's policy, Alexander Neu, the Die Linke party spokesman in the Bundestag Defense Committee, told Sputnik on Wednesday.
Germany's spy chief has recently been facing pressure and calls to resign from opposition politicians, who have suggested he was supportive of right-wing views. The scandal erupted after Maassen said he had reservations about the authenticity of videos showing far-right violence amid the recent anti-migration protests in Chemnitz. Germany's government said on Tuesday it would dismiss Maassen from his post. Maassen is set to become a state secretary of the German Interior Ministry.
"This 'solution' found for Maassen points to a more right-wing development in official politics and in parts of German society as such. The transfer of Mr Maassen to the Ministry of the Interior is only a symptom of this. In the endeavor to politically drain the AfD, Union and SPD in the end only foster their radical right-wing opponents," Neu said.
Among possible consequences of Maassen's dismissal, Neu noted that hardliners could possibly prevail, which was not good news for democracy and civil rights.
"The compromise found by the Grand Coalition is fatal. Political misconduct, as allowed by Mr Maassen, is rewarded by Angela Merkel's Union. The SPD has won a Pyrrhic victory. Mr Maassen was not simply dismissed but even promoted," he said.
He went further to say that BfV led by Maassen did everything to hide "the entanglements of the state and its authorities with the neo-Nazi terrorist network," and the compromise of his job change would only boost "incomprehension and frustration" over the prevailing politics in many parts of German society.
Chemnitz has seen a wave of mass anti-immigrant rallies and protests in recent weeks, with thousands of people, including far-right radicals, taking to the streets. The rallies were sparked by the murder of a German citizen on August 26, allegedly at the hands of two migrants from Iraq and Syria, who have since been arrested. One of the detainees has been released earlier in the day.
