Köhler’s quit leaves a vacuum that will add even more to Angela Merkel’s growing political worries, in between of criticism over a lack of decisive leadership, and a four-year low rating for her government in opinion polls.

Surprise Visit to Afghanistan Leads to Surprise Resignation

Horst Köhler ‘s surprise resignation follows heated criticism of his recent statements about the war in Afghanistan. During a May 22 visit to German soldiers in Afghanistan, Köhler told a reporter, “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.”

Many interpreted the German President’s remark as a justification of war to protect economic interests, reigniting the controversy over Germany’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

Declining Political Power of the German President.

Though the Presidency is a high office, the duties are mostly ceremonial. Köhler received high marks in his first term for his strong speeches pushing for economic reform. However, his reputation as a public speaker suffered a sharp decline after the resignation of his press spokesman.

Karl-Rudolf Korte, one of the leading political scientists in Germany, suggested that it was not Köhler’s controversial comment alone that led to the surprise resignation. Korte explained that Köhler’s decision to resign might have been based largely on his declining influence.

Christian Wullf might take Horst Köhler´s Place

In yesterday´s news, the German government announced that they want suggest Christian Wulff, the current state premier of Lower Saxony, to be the follower of Horst Köhler. He accepted his nomination and thinks of the office of president “a great duty, with great responsibility“.

The European currency union decided to form a rescue package for Greece in order to prevent it to go bankrupt. These days, Greece will receive about 14.5 billion Euros bail-out loan which is part of a 110 billion rescue package to stabilize the country and the European currency as well. But more and more Germans start to question, if a state like Germany would be at all able to give away loans facing a tremendous national debt deficit.

Not only Greece is in a very unstable constitution, but also Spain and Portugal are struggling: are there more billion-loans to pay by countries like Germany? The public debt of today will not only mean tax increase in future; there will also follow inflation, i. e. an expropriation people´s assets in other words. Therefore, people are starting to find ways how to prevent their money from getting worthless.

Because of the high German national debt and the billion-high rescue packages carried out by ministers from the European Union, the inflation will be even higher during the next years. That is how European citizens will be punished with a tax increase by a European currency union which was never democratically legitimized by German citizens. And they would even have to pay extra-costs caused by inflation.

Politicians do not seem to be able to save taxes in 2010, so the German Bundestag is discussing about tax increase again. This apparently has become the favourite remedy for a lot of problems now; a lowering of public spending has never really come to their mind.

The violent criminal with multiple convictions – known by the inital M. – was sentenced to five years in prison back in 1986 before being taken into preventive detention. He has committed severe crimes, including several attempted murders. Preventive detention was limited to 10 years until German law was changed in 1998: unlimited custody of criminals became possible.

M., who now faces unlimited detention rather than the original 10-year period, complained that this practice constitutes unlawful retroactive implementation – an opinion which is also shared by the European Court of Human Rights. Hence, the allegedly dangerous criminal may be released from prison, though experts are convinced that he is a menace to society.

The courts in Marburg, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe found that keeping M. in the prison of Schwalmstadt would be lawful, but the ECHR in Strasbourg disagreed. The continuation of the preventive detention is in breach of the prohibition against double punishment, i.e. against human rights. That interpretation seems to be right.

Dozens of other prisoners like M. were also affected by the changed law in 1998: they also have to stay longer in prison, maybe for the rest of their lifetime. German courts regarded the continuation of preventive detention not as punishment, but the European Court did so. Should the decision in Strasbourg become res judicata,  about 500 convicted criminals may be released from prison – most of them are rapists and murderers.

The discrimination against unmarried fathers in family law seemed to be uncontested for many affected men. After the new rule of the European Court, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger assured to lobby a new bill for the custody of unmarried fathers. In future, they should be able to take care of their children, even without the agreement of the mothers.

Most German politicians also want to have a review on the current laws, but also emphasize that the most important thing is to care about children: they should not suffer from conflicts between mothers and fathers. For unmarried mothers, there is no law certainty anymore – every single case might be analyzed in future.

But the new situation brings also a change for children out of wedlock: they are put on par with marital children. This is welcomed by representatives of relevant organizations dealing with that topic.
Many decrees of Germany’s high court in Karlsruhe confirmed the strong position of women; men were disadvantaged concerning custody, but were asked for financial support. According to experts these incalculable financial risks might have led to a decrease of marriages in general.

However, the latest developments seem to be overdue after many years of discussion. The European Court in Strasbourg has given a clear sign, and the German government has to find new ways to deal with the question of custody. The new rule marks an important step for human rights and emancipation – for men.

Some voices state that Islam would not fit into an individualistic and secular lifestyle in the Western world. On the other hand, some Arab politicians revealed the development in Switzerland as a growing islamophobia; a neologism which has become common usage after the attacks back in September 11, 2001. Anyway, the Islam world was shocked after the referendum: the first protests and demonstrations started on Monday afternoon in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

The Swiss decision is also seen by Pakistani politicians as discrimination of Muslims and even as violation of human rights. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every woman, man, youth and child has the human right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Hence, the United Nations plan to examine the legitimacy of the building ban.

Now Switzerland has to face the fury of millions of Muslims, after Denmark had to bear the consequences after Mohammed-caricatures back in 2006. The Swiss referendum is another reason for harsh discussions and arguments between the Western and the Islam world, and might have a bad impact on the dialogue between Europe and some Muslim countries.

The minaret ban shows that even in apparently very open-minded European societies, there are still a lot of prejudices, fears and latent xenophobia. But on the other side, it is also a sign of  lacking integration, which also means that people have to show the will to integrate and assimilate into society. All participants have to do something in spite of themselves and have to make efforts to overcome cultural barriers.