German government agrees solution to spymaster deal that threatened coalition

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Sunday that Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition had agreed on a solution to a crisis over the future of Germany's scandal-tainted spymaster that had threatened their alliance. The coalition parties said on Tuesday that Hans-Georg Maassen would be removed from his role as domestic intelligence chief after he faced accusations of harboring far-right views but, in a move that prompted public outrage, also granted him a transfer to a better paid job at the Interior Ministry. That compromise came unstuck on Friday when Andrea Nahles - leader of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in the conservative-led alliance - said it was a mistake. Seehofer said on Sunday that the parties had agreed Maassen would work as a special adviser in the Interior Ministry in future without a pay rise. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Edmund Blair)