German president under pressure to step down

German President Christian Wulff makes a statement in the presidential Bellevue palace in Berlin in this Dec 22, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN - German President Christian Wulff, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, faced mounting pressure to step down on Tuesday for a home loan scandal and allegations he tried to stifle a relevant newspaper report.

Wulff, 52, has been under intensive fire after allegations that he tried to stop revelations by Germany's most-read newspaper Bild last month over a personal loan of 500,000 euros ($651,950) he received from the wife of a business friend to pay for a new home in 2008.

The crisis escalated when he left a message on the voicemail of Bild's editor Kai Diekmann, threatening legal action.

"The political grace period is over," said Thomas Oppermann, the parliamentary speaker of the main opposition center-left Social Democrats (SPD). "No President is above the law, and also must abide by the freedom of the press," he said.

It was "absolutely inappropriate when the President tried to prevent independent reporting," added Oppermann. "The election to the presidency is not a general amnesty for past violations of laws or a license for further action."

Oppermann's party colleague Sebastian Edathy cast doubts over the suitability of Wulff for the post, saying that Germany does not need a president who verbally agreed to the superiority of press freedom as a social merit but actually trod on it in daily life.

Member of parliament from the far-left Left Party Wolfgang Neskovic also said Wulff was no longer competent to serve as president.

"I think that by no means shall a president who no longer hold the truth to an ethical but only a self-calculating altitude be suitable to hold the office," he said.

The Greens called for a clear statement by Chancellor Merkel on "how they assessed the recent developments around the president," said Fritz Kuhn, deputy chairman of Green Party parliamentary group.

Kuhn emphasized that the president does not support itself on power but on the "authority of personal credibility," which was heavily damaged in Wulff's case.

Deputy caucus leader of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) in the parliament Karl-Heinz Klare said many party members called him and "all had expressed their negative opinions against Wulff."

Deputy Chairman of the Free Democrats (FDP) Birgit Homburger warned that Wulff's conduct of trying to influence the media coverage might have tarnished the image of the president and demanded the allegations be elucidated immediately.

Holger Zastrow, also deputy leader of the FDP, demanded Wulff to personally clarify his phone call and answer the interrogation later this week.