- Title: Successor to German spy chief position still open
- Date: 19th September 2018
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 19, 2018) (REUTERS) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER HORST SEEHOFER ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA SEEHOFER ADDRESSING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER HORST SEEHOFER, SAYING: "We agreed that the office of the head of the Domestic Security Agency is to be newly filled. But I would to explicitly state the successor to Hans
- Embargoed: 3rd October 2018 11:58
- Keywords: Hans-Gerog Maassen domestic German Intelligence Agnecy German Interior Ministry Horst Seehofer
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0018YAK2MF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Germany's Interior Minister said on Wednesday (September 19) he would replace the head of the domestic intelligence agency who has faced accusations of harbouring far-right sympathies, putting an end to a row that exposed divisions in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.
Hans-Georg Maassen, who had questioned the authenticity of video footage showing far-right radicals hounding migrants in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, will become a senior official at the interior ministry once he leaves the BfV agency. He will oversee cyber security, public security and the police service.
The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), junior coalition partners of Merkel's conservative bloc, had wanted Maassen removed from the post he has held since 2012.
Horst Seehofer said all the coalition parties had agreed on Maassen's move and said he would personally guarantee there was no overlap between Maassen's new duties and the ministerial oversight of the BfV.
Seehofer also said that there was no indication Germany's Chancellor disapproved of the decision. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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