BERLIN — A spat over Germany’s domestic intelligence chief flared up again Friday, after a centre-left party in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government said it wanted to nix a deal that saw the spy promoted out of office. Social Democrats leader Andrea Nahles said she wrote to other members of the coalition government to revisit Tuesday’s agreement, which she said met with “widespread bewilderment” among Germans. Merkel told reporters in Munich that she hopes to find a “viable solution” with her coalition partners over the weekend. Seehofer agreed Tuesday to remove Maassen from the spy agency but then made him deputy minister — with a hefty pay rise. The far-right Alternative for Germany party, meanwhile, has risen from nearly 13 per cent last year to 18 per cent in the same poll, which had a margin of error of up to 3.1 percentage points.

Source: National Post September 21, 2018 14:37 UTC