Advertisement

Leader in hot water over bread scandal

Share via

German president Christian Wulff’s preference for bread and baked goods made in distant Hanover has got the country’s newly elected head of state into hot water.

German media and opposition politicians have criticized Wulff for importing the bakery specialties from 300 km away to Berlin, calling it a waste of taxpayer money and a poor example as far as his carbon footprint is concerned.

“Why don’t you eat Berlin bread, Mr. President,” Bild newspaper wrote on Tuesday.

Claudia Haemmerling, a member of Berlin’s local assembly for the Greens party, said it was absurd to truck bakery goods to Berlin from Hanover because Berlin has plenty of top bakeries. Wulff was previously state premier of Lower Saxony in Hanover.

“You can get excellent bread in Berlin,” Haemmerling told the daily Berliner Zeitung. The practice began under his predecessor Roman Herzog, president from 1994 to 1999.

Hanover baker Jochen Gaues defended his long-distance deliveries, telling Bild: “This is really annoying. My bread is made by hand and top quality. If the Berlin bakers can’t do the job, maybe they should replace their old machines.”

Advertisement