German Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer made a statement in the background while making a statement on 19 September 2018 in Berlin. He commented on Angela Merkel's government's decision to oust Hans-Georg Maassen, the leader of the national spies, to transfer him to another post to end an explosive wave of immigration and corruption. far right.(Photo: AFP / Getty Images)

The latest quarrel in the government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on refugee policy is over on a somewhat surreal compromise. Hans-Georg Maassen, the chief of internal intelligence services – officially known as the "Office for the Protection of the Constitution" (BfV) – will be removed from office but will theoretically be better as deputy leader. from the Ministry of the Interior.

The move is an agreement between the junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), who demanded the dismissal of Maassen, and the conservative interior minister, Horst Seehofer, who had backed the controversial leader of the BfV.

In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, the German government wrote: "The office of the President of the Office of the Protection of the Constitution will be filled again." In the future, Mr. Maassen will become Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Minister Horst Seehofer attaches great importance to Mr Maassen's internal security capabilities, but he will not be responsible for the BfV within the ministry. "

With this, Maassen moved to deputy minister status, but was deprived of any association with BfV. The controversy around the 55-year-old man has been building up for weeks after he publicly doubted the authenticity of a video showing what appeared to be right-wing protesters angrily chasing a man they thought was strangers in the streets while shouting xenophobic slogans. Maassen did not provide any evidence of his skepticism as to where the video came from.

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Maassen has also been criticized for sharing sensitive information on security priorities with the right-wing alternative populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The compromise carries all the marks of a divided coalition not only in conservative and SPD lines, but also within the conservative bloc itself. Maassen and Seehofer, who is also the chairman of the Bavarian Conservative party, the CSU, have criticized Merkel's welcoming policies towards migrants and her much more conservative party, the CDU.

On Monday, reports revealed that Merkel had decided to abide by the SPD's demands to remove Maassen, repeatedly accused of sympathy for the far right. Transferring him to the Ministry of the Interior for a nominally higher and better paying post is a concession to Seehofer, who is preparing the CSU for the elections in Bavaria next month.

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The fight for the future of Maassen is the latest in a series of conflicts over the politics of migrants within the coalition, pitting Merkel mainly against Mr Seehofer. This summer, Mr Seehofer led Mrs Merkel 's government to collapse by insisting on Bavaria' s right to independently deport rejected asylum seekers, in violation of the EU 's rules. EU and German national policy. A crisis was avoided only when Seehofer came down.

Seehofer would have said that if Maassen had to leave, he would do it too. Tuesday's compromise allows him to remain as Minister of the Interior for the moment. On Wednesday, Seehofer will inform the press of the details of the reshuffling of the staff, including Maassen's potential successor to the BfV.

Neither Merkel, nor Seehofer, nor SPD President Andrea Nahles, who met Tuesday night to determine the fate of Maassen, did not face the journalists after the announcement of the decision. It was probably a calculated measure because the compromise was greeted with contempt by opposition politicians and press analysts.

"It's an incredible fudge," Green Party House Leader Katrin-Göring Eckardt said on Twitter. "Anyone who rewards rather than punishing disloyalty and cooperating with the AfD has lost all sense of what is good or bad, and the SPD goes with everything."

"What qualifies Maassen to be a new MP at the Seehofer Ministry?" asked the Left Party on Twitter.

"Maassen's promotion is only one solution on paper," said Christian Lindner, president of the FDP center-right, on social networks. "Or do you trust him or not?"

For its part, the AfD has interpreted efforts within the coalition to eliminate Maassen as an attempt to stifle Merkel's criticism of migration policy, with party co-leader Alice Weidel on Twitter. The party is also promoting the hashtag #wirsindmaassen – "we are Maassen".

Migrant activist groups reacted with consternation to Maassen's lateral movement. The media has largely dismissed the compromise as a gesture born of political opportunity; Die Welt's newspaper said acidically: "The coalition can continue – maybe it can even govern one day."

This article was originally published on DW.com. Its content was created separately for USA TODAY.

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