Germany’s biggest supporters resign after birther stirs up controversy in party | Government Affairs

Germany’s conservative leader says surrogate fatherhood is ‘not compatible’ with his office.

A senior politician in Germany’s ruling conservative coalition has resigned after giving birth to a child via surrogate, in a move that clashed with his party.

Jens Spahn, 46, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrat party and its sister Christian ‌Social Union (CDU/CSU), resigned on Saturday after calling on his party to resign.

The news that Spahn and her husband had a surrogate in the United States came out on Thursday, prompting criticism from friends and accusations of fraud.

“In the past few days, I have realized that my happiness – starting a family with my husband and becoming a father – is not related to my political office,” Spahn wrote in his resignation letter to his party colleagues.

His exit removes Merz from one of his closest allies.

As the parliamentary leader of the Christian Democrats, Spahn’s job was to ensure that the Merz government had the votes to implement its agenda, making it one of the most powerful positions in German politics.

Surrogacy is illegal in Germany, although it is legal for expectant parents to adopt a child born to a foreign surrogate.

Spahn’s party voted to repeal the ban as recently as February.

Spahn defended himself in front of the German press on Friday, telling the Bild newspaper that he “struggled with myself for a long time, including on the issue of surrogacy”.

Merz said Spahn’s decision to step down was “correct and inevitable”.

Crediting Spahn for helping the CDU return to power, he added, “Credibility is the most important thing in politics.”

The chancellor avoided criticizing his partner in public, but said there was “no reason” to change his party on the issue of having a child and said the CDU would discuss the issue.