German President Horst Koehler Resigns

President Horst Koehler stunned Germans by resigning Monday after being criticized for appearing to link military deployments abroad with the country’s economic interests – creating a new headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The resignation, effective immediately, came a year into Koehler’s second term as the largely ceremonial head of state. Merkel’s center-right alliance installed the former International Monetary Fund boss as president in 2004, and his departure is a symbolic blow.

The speaker of parliament’s upper house – Bremen Mayor Jens Boehrnsen, a member of the opposition Social Democrats – temporarily takes over presidential duties, largely signing legislation into law.

Koehler, a member of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, cited a week of criticism over a radio interview he gave following a visit to German troops in Afghanistan.

In that broadcast, he said for a country with Germany’s dependency on exports, military deployments could be “necessary … in order to defend our interests, for example free trade routes.”

That was taken by many as relating to Germany’s unpopular mission in Afghanistan, although his office later said he was referring to anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia.

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