MUNICH, Germany, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Harsh criticism is raining down on Christian Social Union leader Edmund Stoiber after he stepped back from his Cabinet post.
Stoiber earlier this week announced he would not join Angela Merkel's left-right government following an inner-party leadership crisis at the Social Democratic Party. He decided to remain in his comfortable post as premier of Bavaria and not take on the post of economy and technology minister.
While Germany's politicians vowed to press on with plans to form a grand coalition government, even some conservatives indicated that Stoiber's move was a bit too much.
CSU lawmaker Sebastian von Rotenhan told reporters that Stoiber's political U-turn had caused his party "irreparable damage" and him to lose "enormous amounts of respect" before Stoiber.
Georg Milbradt, CDU state premier of Saxony, told the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel that Edmund Stoiber was "an obstruction in Berlin."
His predecessor in office, Theo Waigel, told the German daily Bild that Stoiber had made "several mistakes, maybe one too many."
