German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she backs Joachim Gauck, a pastor and former East German rights activist, to be the country’s next president.
Mr Gauck was proposed by the opposition Social Democrats and Greens after Christian Wulff quit as president on Friday over corruption allegations.
Mrs Merkel opposed Mr Gauck for the presidency in 2010, instead supporting her ally Mr Wulff.
Germany’s president has a largely ceremonial, but influential, role.
With the backing of all the major parties, Mr Gauck’s election to the position next month should be a formality.
In 2010, he was the presidential candidate of the Social Democrats and Greens, but lost to Mr Wulff.
The 72-year-old Mr Gauck is well known for his work as a dissident in East Germany and for running the archives on the Stasi secret police after the Berlin Wall came down, exposing its crimes.
Moral authority Mrs Merkel confirmed her backing for Mr Gauck at a news conference in the Chancellery after a meeting with representatives from her centre-right government and the opposition.
“Let’s not forget that we have churchmen like Gauck to thank for the success of East Germany’s peaceful revolution,” she said.
Mrs Merkel is herself the daughter of a Protestant pastor and, like Mr Gauck, grew up in the former East Germany.
“This man can provide an important impetus for the challenges of our time and the future,” she said.
The president’s role is largely ceremonial, to serve as a moral authority for the nation.
Source: English Forum Switzerland
Note by the editor: Note the last sentence: ‘The President’s role is largely ceremonial, to serve as a moral authority for the nation’. mmmmmmm. Moral authority….
Mr. Gauk is married to Mrs. Gauk, but for the past 12 years he has a ‘weekend relationship’ with Mrs. Daniela Schadt. In other words, could we say that Mr. Gauk is a practicing polygamist? May be not, he just did not quite get around to divorce his wife and marry his partner. Let’s see what he will do now that he is a ‘moral authority’.
Mr. Gauk with his 'partner' Ms. Daniela Schadt
Categories: Europe, Family values, Germany, Human Courtship, Human values
Can Gauck htmle President while ‘living in sin’?
See:
http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20120222-40885.htmle President while ‘living in sin’?
Interesting comments on that article also.
My view: Mr. Gauck represents the present morality of the German people.
Better solution:
Be honest and legalise polygamy.