By

our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
  
    

Berlin (dpa) – A long-time standard-bearer of euroscepticism in
Germany, Peter Gauweiler, on Tuesday resigned his parliamentary seat
and his vice-presidency of the conservative Christian Social Union
(CSU) party.

A political maverick who has repeatedly sued German governments in
the country‘s constitutional court to challenge eurozone bailouts,
Gauweiler, 65, said he was departing in protest at pressure to fall
in behind the policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s government.

The Bavaria-only CSU, which is one of three parties in Merkel‘s
ruling coalition, is officially in favour of Berlin joining in the
bailouts that have averted several eurozone governments going
bankrupt.

The Alternative for Germany party, AfD, set up in 2013 to urge that
Germany secede from the eurozone in its present form, praised his
decision and said he would be welcome to join it. The AfD has no
seats in Germany‘s federal parliament.

Gauweiler, who had been pressed by CSU leader Horst Seehofer to fall
into line, said he had accepted election to a vice-presidency of the
CSU on the basis that his supporters knew his views on the euro.

“I have been publicly pressured to vote in the Bundestag for the
exact opposite, on the grounds that I am a vice-president,” he said
in a statement on his website. “This is incompatible with my
interpretation of the duty of a legislator.”

Gauweiler, who is a lawyer, was Germany‘s leading opponent of the
terms of eurozone aid before the AfD entered the political fray. His
court challenges led to Germany‘s parliament being routinely asked
before Berlin can alter any bailout terms.

 



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