German President Christian Wulff has
announced his resignation,
after prosecutors called for
his immunity to be lifted. An
ally of Chancellor Angela
Merkel, Mr Wulff, 52, stepped down over corruption claims involving a dubious home loan. He denies any
wrongdoing.
The scandal
surrounding Mr Wulff escalated in December. At the
centre of the row is the story - first published by the Bild newspaper - that
Mr Wulff received a low interest 500,000 euro loan (£417,000; $649,000) from
the wife of a wealthy businessman in October 2008. There were also corruption
allegations
against Mr Wulff, involving receiving political favours and free holidays
from business executives.
Wulff is the second
German president to quit in less than two years, forcing Merkel to find a
fresh candidate with cross- party support for the largely
ceremonial post. Mrs Merkel cancelled
a visit to Italy on Friday to deal with the crisis, and said she regretted
that he had quit. She said Mr Wulff was convinced he had "acted legally
correctly" but was "stepping back from the office, from service to
our people".
Germany's political
parties will now seek to agree on a new candidate for president, she said.
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VOCABULARY
1.
Resignation
(n) - when you officially announce that you have decided to leave your job or
an organization, or a written statement that says you will be leaving
2.
Prosecutors
(n) - a lawyer who is trying to prove in a court of law that someone is guilty
of a crime
3.
Immunity
(n) - the state or right of being protected from particular laws or from
unpleasant things
4.
Ally
(n) - someone who helps and supports you when other people are trying to oppose
you
5.
Dubious
(adj.) - probably not honest, true, right
6.
Scandal
(n) - an event in which someone, especially someone important, behaves in a bad
way that shocks people
7.
Escalated
(v) - it becomes much worse
8.
Allegations
(n) - a statement that someone has done something wrong or illegal, but
that has not been proved
9.
Cross-party
(adj.) – interaction between 2 or more political parties
10.
Regret
(v) - to feel sorry about something you have done and wish you had not done it
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
What is corruption? What can you say about
corruption in your country?
2.
Comment about Presidents resigning because of
corruption.
3.
Have you been to Germany? Share what you know
about Germany.
4.
Do you read news about politics? Why?
5.
Discuss about politics in your country.
