The office of president of the Federal Republic of Germany is largely symbolic and ceremonial. Which does not mean it is unimportant. He (so far there has not been a she) is meant to be a moral leader and a true representative of the country’s highest values.
The president is nominated by the Chancellor and chosen by both houses of parliament and delegates of the Länder. The economist and CDU politician Horst Köhler, the predecessor of the current president, Christian Wulff, resigned in 2010 for complicated reasons that many found hard to understand. Essentially, he said that he found the job too confining and that he did not enjoy it any more.
Like him, Wulff is a member of the CDU, and has an excellent relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). He was Ministerpräsident (premier) of Lower Saxony (capital: Hanover) from 2003–2010, and has been president since last June.
Now he is at the centre of a political storm. The tabloid Bild, the largest newspaper in Germany, published an article on December 13, which alleged that Wulff had not given the whole truth in a response to a parliamentary question put to him in February 2010, when he was still premier of Lower Saxony. He was asked whether he had business ties with the businessman Egon Geerkens. He denied this. But according to Bild, Wulff and his wife Bettina had received a loan of €500,000 ($660,000) at favorable rates from Geerkens’ wife, Edith, in order to buy a home. The article caused a pre-Christmas furor.
The day before Bild published it, Wulff had called the editor of the paper, an old friend and supporter. He may have demanded that Bild “pull” the story, as the press assumes, or he may merely have requested a delay, as Wulff said. Yesterday, it was reported that he refused permission to have the recording of the call made public. Apparently, he was angry when he made it. Of course it raises the highly explosive issue of freedom of the press.
On Wednesday evening Wulff was interviewed on public television. He admitted mistakes he had made but was not truly penitent. When asked whether he considered resigning, he said no.
Wulff maintained that he felt he had been “a victim of the media.” He accused Bild of linking him to “untruths” and “dragging” his friends into the public spotlight. He said that research by journalists had caused an “uproar” in his home village.
He also defended his decision to take the loan from a friend. “I would not like to be president of a country in which you can no longer borrow money from a friend,” he said.
“During all these weeks I have had great support from many citizens, my friends and also my colleagues,” he said. “I enjoy carrying out my duties and I have committed myself to them for five years.” He said he wanted to “take stock after five years, and show that I was a good president.”
It is considered likely that he will survive the storm.
Source: Spiegel online
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
I’m doubtless hopelessly naïve, but I fail to see the issue here. Wulff denies having had business dealings with Herr Geerkins, and admits receiving a loan from Frau Geerkens, which he presumably intends to repay. He tried to prevent Bild from publishing a story he feared would embarrass him — surely his right. Bild went ahead anyway, — surely its right (Freedom of the Press and All That).
What “mistake” ought he to be penitent for? Phoning Bild in anger? Refusing permission for that angry phone-call to be made public? Accepting a loan from a friend to buy a house?
I don’t get it. There’s no whiff of conflict of interest, no suggestion that the “loan” is an improper payment for some illicit perk the Geerkinses received in return . . . Was there more to the Spiegel story than is reported here? What am I missing?
Lying to Parliament. Borrowing money is a “business tie” which he denied.
A Wulff in sheep’s clothing?
Does a loan from the man’s wife to buy a house constitute “business dealings” with the husband? I still don’t get it — unless there is some whiff of conflict of interest or such.