Germany's president may have to resign over private credit scandal

Germany's president Christian Wulff may have to resign because he may not have been entirely truthful about a private credit of €500,000 he got to buy a house, Spiegel Online reports. When Wulff was still prime minister of Niedersachsen he denied business links to a business man from the region. Now it turns out that he got this private credit on unusually favourable terms via the business man's wife and according to Der Spiegel there are many indications that it was actually the business man himself who provided him with the credit. Since the president's sole role in the German political system is to be a moral authority and to provide moral guidance, commentators across the board agree that Wulff is no longer the person to fulfill that role and that he may have to resign. Der Spiegel this Monday has Wulff's photograph on its cover under the title ,,The wrong president". For Angela Merkel this would yet be another blow that would further undermine her political authority as well. Wulff was handpicked by the chancellor, she could only impose him with great difficulties in 2010 after three rounds in the body that elects the president. Since her majority has further eroded since then, she may not even be able to force through another candidate of her own choice, but she may have to accept a candidate championed by the opposition. "

The German presidency is a largely ceremonial office, but he has two functions that can be important in the euro crisis. His words carry weight, and influence public opinion. And he constitutes an important link between the parliament, who legislation he has to approve, and the Constitutional Court. Yesterday, Christian Wulff said he considered the ECB's bond purchases as legally questionable. The direct purchase of bonds was explicitly ruled out. It is wrong to circumvent this rule through secondary market purchases, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine. He also criticised the EU governments' tendency to kowtow to financial markets. In free democracies, decisions have to be taken by parliaments, and said the rescue policies were too hectic. He warned of a domino effect of rescue packages, asking rhetorically, who was going to rescue the rescuers?