The headline in Frankfurter Rundschau announces "Germany's witching hour." In a ghoulish development for the country's conservatives, ten years of extradition negotiations with Canada have finally concluded in the return of Karlheinz Schreiber, who will shortly appear before the courts. The arms dealer is at the centre of a major political scandal replete with slush funds and multiple corruption allegations, which sullied the reputations of former chancellor Helmut Kohl and CDU President and Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble — and thereby paving the way for the ascension of Angela Merkel. The announcement of Schreiber's impending trial "has revived interest in the CDU secret accounts' scandal, which undermined the party and Federal Republic's political culture," reports the daily. "But Schreiber is unlikely to rock the Republic for a second time." However, he could serve as an example to politicians in the current government, and help prevent suspicious behaviour by "giving people a good scare, which is what ghosts are supposed to do."
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