Germany's SPD moves again to expel anti-Islam author

Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) has launched a renewed attempt to expel a well-known anti-Islam author from its ranks.

The ideas expressed by Thilo Sarrazin, who has also been an executive at Germany's central bank, could not be reconciled with the party's principles, said SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil in Berlin on Monday.

Sarrazin, who has earned notoriety with his books attacking Islam and its influence on German society, was causing the SPD "serious harm," Klingbeil added. The SPD is a member of Germany's governing coalition.

The SPD executive called on Sarrazin to resign from the party of his own accord earlier this year after he published his book "Feindliche Uebernahme: Wie der Islam den Fortschritt behindert und die Gesellschaft bedroht" (Hostile takeover: how Islam blocks progress and threatens society).

It set up a working group to examine the book's contents.

"The investigation committee has now presented a comprehensive and well-founded report," Klingbeil said.

The SPD executive decided on the basis of the report to initiate a disciplinary process with the aim of excluding Sarrazin, a member of long standing who has in the past occupied executive positions in the Berlin Senate, the national rail company and at Germany's central bank.

The party has twice in the past sought to exclude the controversial author, who gained an international reputation with his 2010 bestseller "Deutschland schafft sich ab"