German President, Bild cross swords

Germany’s scandal-hit President urged the country’s top newspaper yesterday not to publish the transcript of an angry voicemail he left its chief editor, after the daily challenged his version of the call.

President Christian Wulff, 52, said in a letter to the editor-in-chief of Bild which was released by the presidential office that his message, expressed in an “extremely emotional situation”, had been meant “for you and no one else”.

He pointed out that he had later apologised for the message, left during a busy official overseas trip and concerning a story Bild planned to run about a low-interest home loan. The editor had accepted the apology, Mr Wulff said.

“With that, the matter between us was settled. So should it remain in my view,” the President said.

Mr Wulff late Wednesday made a nationally televised mea culpa after three weeks of intense pressure and calls for him to resign over the home loan from a tycoon friend’s wife and subsequent claims he tried to hush up the story.

He held up his hands in the 20-minute interview to having made a “serious mistake” in calling chief editor Kai Diekmann in a rage but said he had only wanted to delay the story by a day.