Former German spy chief founds new right-wing party

German right-wing conservative group Werteunion (Values Union) Chairman Hans-Georg Maassen, attends a press conference, after attending a meeting to found a "conservative-liberal" party, in Remagen, Germany February 17, 2024. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch

BERLIN (Reuters) - A former German spy chief who was sacked after being accused of averting his eyes to the threat posed by the far-right founded a new right-wing party on Saturday, holding an inaugural party congress on a boat near Germany's old capital Bonn.

The party is the third to be founded this year in Germany, further fragmenting the political landscape and making electoral predictions tricky ahead of European parliamentary polls and votes in half the country's municipalities and three states.