A member of the German government today accused the new US ambassador in Berlin of meddling in domestic politics and aggravating already tense ties, as left-wing parties called for the staunch ally of Donald Trump to be expelled.
Richard Grenell took up his Berlin posting on May 8 and immediately irked Germany when he tweeted the same day that German companies should stop doing business with Iran as Trump quit the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
He stoked further outrage last weekend with reported comments to right-wing news website Breitbart of his ambition to "empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders."
Grenell also raised eyebrows with his plan to host a June 13 lunch for Austria's arch-conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, described by the US envoy as a "rock star." The ambassador "is interfering in our internal affairs," said Peter Beyer, coordinator for transatlantic cooperation in Angela Merkel's government, in an interview with regional newspaper the Rheinische Post.
"He should pay attention to the fact that we consider his start as ambassador to be difficult," added the conservative politician, who will be present on Wednesday for a visit by the diplomat to the foreign ministry. Former chief of the Social Democratic Party and ex-European Parliament president Martin Schulz told national news agency DPA: "What this man is doing is unheard of in international diplomacy.
"If a German ambassador were to say in Washington that he is there to empower the Democrats, he would have been kicked out immediately. "I hope that Kurz's visit will lead Mr Grenell's tenure as ambassador in Germany to be short," added Schulz, playing on the German word for short -- "kurz." Schulz had earlier tweeted that the US envoy did not behave like a diplomat but rather like a "far-right colonial officer." Amid the row, Germany's foreign ministry is seeking clarification from Grenell about his comments, with the topic to be raised at a pre-arranged meeting Wednesday between the envoy and senior official Andreas Michaelis.
"There will certainly be a lot to discuss and that's why it's good that the ambassador will be a guest tomorrow of state secretary Michaelis," said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
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