12-04-2010, 07:30 AM
[url="http://euobserver.com/9/31416"]Heads start rolling in WikiLeaks affair[/url]
Quote:03.12.2010 @ 12:14 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS ââ¬â The WikiLeaks affair has claimed its first victim after Germany's vice-chancellor Guido Westerwelle on Thursday (3 December) sacked his chief of staff for spying for the Americans. Italy's Prime Minister has also been put in a pickle ahead of a confidence vote in parliament, and reports indicate that WikiLeaks mastermind Julian Assange is to be arrested shortly by UK police.
Mr Westerwelle's chief of staff, Helmut Metzner, admitted that he gave regular information to the US embassy in Berlin, and has been "relieved from his duties," a spokesman for the Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) said in a statement.
US diplomatic cables published this week by WikiLeaks reported the content of closed-doors coalition negotiations between the FDP and chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union based on input from an unnamed informer.
Philip Murphy, the US ambassador in Berlin, said the mole was a "young, up-and-coming party loyalist," who gave a detailed account of an internal government row over nuclear disarmament. The informant also spoke about veteran conservative Wolfgang Schauble, the current finance minister, as "neurotic" and "an angry old man."
According to the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the 41-year old Mr Metzner will continue to work for the party, even after losing his top-job.
"I'm relieved that he didn't commit suicide. This is a consequence [of the leaks] not to be excluded - this has the potential to end people's careers," a contact in the EU institutions said.
Another official in the spotlight is Swedish diplomat Johan Frisell who briefed the US on internal talks between EU ministers about the 2008 Georgia war. "I bet he's feeling pretty uncomfortable now," the EU source said. "Diplomats take risks in their judgments, but these are not normally put into open. Now his judgment on the situation is open to question."
The Candian ambassador to Kabul, William Crosbie, has also offered to resign if future cables damage his relationship with the Afghani administration.
In Italy, pressure is mounting for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to step down, after a series of revelations concerning alleged bribe-taking from his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Some 100 lawmakers on Thursday asked for Mr Berlusconi to step down ahead of a 14 December confidence vote. Among the protesters are former allies, indicating that the balance may be tipping in favour of the opposition this time around. The Putin allegation come on top of a long-standing series of sexual scandals suggesting Mr Berlusconi hosted sex-parties with underage girls.