Merkel coalition slides into 'permanent crisis mode' with spy row


FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and Hans-Georg Maassen, president of Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the federal domestic intelligence service, leave the BfV's headquarters following their meeting in Cologne October 31, 2014. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - A clumsy compromise to end a row over the fate of Germany's spy chief has exposed a cruel fact: the parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's right-left coalition are loveless partners in a dysfunctional relationship that none of them can afford to quit.

The coalition leaders sought on Tuesday to end a scandal that had rumbled on for 11 days by agreeing to replace the head of the BfV domestic intelligence agency, who has faced accusations of harbouring far-right sympathies.

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