[ad_1]
Wanderwitz, a CDU politician, describes Maassen’s possible candidacy for the Bundestag as “madness”
Hans-Georg Maaßen (CDU) wants to move to the Bundestag for the CDU
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
The possible candidacy to the Bundestag of Hans-Georg Maaßen for the CDU receives criticism. For the eastern commissioner Wanderwitz, Maassen no longer fits “style and content” with the CDU. Maaßen was replaced as head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2018.
DThe Eastern Commissioner of the Federal Government, Marco Wanderwitz, has strongly criticized the intention of the former president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, to run for the CDU for the Bundestag. “This is crazy,” the Saxon CDU member of the Bundestag told the German publishing network. “From my point of view, Mr. Maassen has long been incompatible with the Christian Democratic Union in terms of style and content,” added Wanderwitz.
Maaßen had announced that he would move to the Bundestag for the CDU in September. He wanted to run for electoral district 196 in southern Thuringia, the 58-year-old confirmed on Thursday at the request of dpa.
In this constituency, Mark Hauptmann, who has since resigned from the party, was elected in the 2017 federal elections, against whom an investigation is pending in the matter of the Union mask. The proposal sparked controversial debates, especially on the Internet.
The decision rests with the district associations.
Christian Hirte, director of the Thuringia CDU, tweeted on Friday: “I do not share many views and the style of Maaßen. For the Thuringian CDU one thing is for sure: policy for Thuringia without the AfD and the left! According to the statutes, the decision on the candidate to the Bundestag rests with the delegates of the four district associations of the CDU in South Thuringia. The 196 constituency includes Schmalkalden-Meiningen, the district associations Hildburghausen and Sonneberg, as well as the independent town of Suhl.
Maaßen, who hails from North Rhine-Westphalia, headed the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 2012 to 2018. Prior to that, he had worked in various departments of the Federal Ministry of the Interior since 1991, since 2008 as head of anti-terrorism staff .
In 2018, Maaßen came under fire after making statements about the far-right riots in Chemnitz downplayed. He was replaced after much back and forth when he later also spoke of “radical left forces” in the SPD. In November 2018, he was put into temporary retirement at the request of the federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU).
Maaßen advocates a tough course in immigration policy. After he lost his post as chairman of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, it was temporarily speculated that he might join the AfD. At that time there were also rumors about a possible CDU party exclusion procedure, which was not carried out.
