After quarrels in the German Fire Service Association (DFV) whose Presidential Council has announced the withdrawal of President Hartmut Ziebs. For April 2020, a delegates' meeting convened to fill the presidency, told the DFV Presidential Council after a meeting in Brunswick.
Ziebs has declared that he will not run again, the statement says. The vice presidents would also ask for their remaining term of office.
The association of fire brigades in North Rhine-Westphalia said in the evening explicitly not to have participated in the communication of the DFV Presidential Council. "Since President Hartmut Ziebs was elected until 2021 and has not resigned, he is still in office." Ziebs comes from Schwelm in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The association president had been called on several weeks ago by several vice presidents to resign and had brought in an interview in a context, inter alia, with his attitude against right-wing national tendencies.
Interview with Ziebs
The Presidential Council contradicted that in the statement: The resignation question was "at no time connected with the political statements of the President against right-wing populism". "The fire brigade associations do not cover right-wing national tendencies, we do not tolerate any radical ideas, but we stand for all the values of a liberal democracy."
The reasons for the crisis of confidence lie in structural problems and disturbed communication in the presidium. The Presidential Council condemned threats against Ziebs as well as denunciations of Vice Presidents in social media.
After two threatening acts against Ziebs, the state security investigation had begun, as a spokesman for the police in Hagen had communicated two weeks ago.