Little sign of compromise in German government showdown

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel and her rebellious Bavarian allies searched Monday for a way to end a standoff over migration after Germany's interior minister offered to resign, but a compromise looked elusive in the dispute that has rocked the government.

The crisis that has raised questions over the future of Merkel's 3½-month-old administration pits Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and his Bavaria-only Christian Social Union against Merkel, the head of its longtime sister party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Ahead of a difficult Bavarian state election in October, the CSU is determined to show it is tough on migration. Seehofer wants to turn asylum-seekers who have already been registered in another European Union country back at Germany's border, but Merkel is adamant that Germany shouldn't take unilateral action.

Seehofer and Merkel, who have long had a difficult relationship, have sparred over migrant policy on and off since 2015. However, the current dispute has erupted at a time when Germany is seeing far fewer newcomers than in that year's influx.

Seehofer, who reportedly argues that measures to tackle migration agreed at a European Union summit last week aren't enough, said after his party's top leaders met early Monday that he would hold talks during the day with the CDU. The leadership of Merkel's party approved a resolution Sunday stating that "turning people back unilaterally would be the wrong signal to our European partners."

It is unclear what effect Seehofer's resignation as interior minister and CSU leader, if he goes through with it, would have on the two conservative parties' governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats.

Over recent days, speculation had focused on the possibility of Merkel firing Seehofer if he went ahead unilaterally with his plan. That would likely end the seven-decade partnership of the CDU and CSU, which have a joint parliamentary group, and in turn would leave the government just short of a majority.

CDU leaders and lawmakers on Monday stressed the importance of maintaining intact the conservative alliance, Germany's strongest political force for much of its post-war history.

Deputy CDU leader Armin Laschet said the party's position is "independent of Horst Seehofer or Angela Merkel, because we want the European solution."

Merkel maintains that a plan to regulate immigration that European Union leaders approved Friday and bilateral agreements in principle that she hashed out with some countries for them to take back migrants would accomplish what Seehofer seeks.

However, the more conservative CSU believes its credibility is at stake as it tries to curb support for the anti-migration Alternative for Germany party in the upcoming Bavarian election.

European agreements "will take a very long time" to take effect and there are uncertainties over which countries will join in, hardline Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said. "So I think action in Germany to strengthen European interests is absolutely necessary."

But he also struck a conciliatory tone, saying "there is an abundance of possibilities ... for compromises," without specifying what they were. He insisted that the CSU isn't questioning the government's stability and doesn't want to break up the CDU-CSU partnership.

"We can achieve a lot in a government, but not outside," Soeder said.

The Social Democrats, who have largely been bystanders so far, demanded that their coalition partners get their act together, and called for a meeting later Monday with the conservative leaders. Party leader Andrea Nahles said that "the CSU is on a dangerous ego trip that is paralyzing Germany and Europe."

"The blame game between CDU and CSU must end, because it is irresponsible," she said.</s>Germany's interior minister has offered his resignation to Chancellor Angela Merkel over the government's policy on accepting migrants.

Horst Seehofer, a member of the conservative Bavarian Christian Social Union, has not only offered to resign from Merkel's Cabinet, but also from the leadership of the CSU.

His offer to step down follows a marathon meeting with senior members of his party who tried to persuade him to stay on, according to Deutsche Welle.

"In the interest of this country and the capacity of this government, which we want to maintain, we want to make an attempt to find an agreement on this central question of turning people away [at the German border]," Seehofer was quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle.

Despite tendering his resignation, the interior minister said he wanted to meet with Merkel on Monday before making a final decision.

Merkel has insisted that the migration crisis — which has seen tens of thousands of North African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers enter European Union countries in recent years — is a matter for Europe as a whole to resolve.

Although the number of migrants has dropped sharply since the crisis began in 2015, the influx has nonetheless stoked anti-immigrant sentiments across Europe, particularly in countries such as Germany and Italy, where last month the issue helped propel a right-wing government to power.

The SDU is key to Merkel's coalition. Should Seehofer resign and his party withdrawal from the coalition, it would spell the collapse of Merkel's government.

The Associated Press writes, "If Seehofer does step down, it is not immediately clear what effect the move would have on a three-week impasse between Merkel and her CSU partners, which has centered on his resolve to turn away some types of asylum-seekers at Germany's borders."

Last week, in a summit convened in an effort to resolve the migrant issue, the EU agreed to take a harder line on those seeking asylum from countries that the bloc does not consider war zones.

However, much of the deal carried the proviso that member states could participate on a "voluntary basis."

Even so, Merkel said additional agreements could give the agreement teeth. Those would include deals for Spain and Greece to take back migrants registered in those countries who are caught by police trying to enter Germany.

"The sum total of everything we have agreed upon has the same effect" as what Seehofer has demanded, Merkel said in an interview with ZDF television, as reported by AP. "That is my personal opinion. The CSU must naturally decide that for itself."</s>Questions around Europe’s handling of migration and asylum applications continued to cause a political headache on Sunday night as the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, sought to calm tensions with conservative allies inside her coalition government.

After the European Union last week hammered out a vague accord on migration, promising to set up secure centres to process the asylum claims of people rescued in the Mediterranean, Merkel drew up her own raft of measures to tighten controls on the influx of migrants to Germany and presented it to her sceptical coalition partners, the conservative Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU).

Germany’s coalition government is under immense strain, after the hardline interior minister Horst Seehofer – also leader of the CSU – threatened to turn away any asylum claimants already registered in another EU country, unless Merkel came up with a solution by Sunday night.

But after Merkel set out fresh German migration measures to calm the row, Seehofer reportedly voiced his dissatisfaction with Merkel’s deal in a closed meeting with fellow CSU party leaders on Sunday afternoon.

The interior minister complained in Munich that he had engaged Merkel in a “conversation with no effect” about his plan to turn away asylum seekers already registered in other EU countries, the sources said.

Merkel is engaged in a fight for her political survival with the rebellious CSU, which has pressured her for weeks to get tough on immigration and asylum as it fears being outflanked to the right by anti-immigrant, anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Facing regional elections in October, the CSU, the sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), has been pushing for tougher rules on migration.

The chancellor rejects Seehofer’s plan for Germany to unilaterally turn away at the border already-registered asylum seekers, preferring to seek cooperation with Germany’s neighbours.

Merkel fears that if Germany closes its borders it will set off a chain reaction that destroys Europe’s border-free travel zone, regarded by the EU as one of its greatest achievements, as well as a linchpin of jobs and prosperity.

Merkel drew up a raft of plans to tighten controls on the influx of migrants, according to a document submitted to her coalition partners at the weekend. At her urging, EU leaders last week agreed a slew of measures to reduce immigration to the bloc and so-called “secondary migration” of asylum seekers between countries.

Merkel also said she had struck deals with 16 other countries for them to take back already-registered asylum seekers. But central European nations including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia denied any such agreement. “Germany has not addressed us and I will not sign this agreement,” Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš said in a statement. “No negotiations have taken place between the Czech Republic and Germany on this question,” he added.

Merkel on Sunday said she wanted her Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian allies to continue working together. She told German broadcaster ZDF that differences with the CSU only related to the way to achieve a reduction in migration, not to the goal as such.

She said: “I share the CSU’s aim of on the one hand reducing the number of immigrants being brought to Europe by smugglers, and on the other hand I also share the view that asylum seekers can’t simply choose which country they want to go to.”

If Seehofer rejects Merkel’s approach and orders border police to begin turning away already-registered asylum seekers, she would be forced to fire him, effectively exploding her conservative camp and robbing her ruling coalition with the Social Democratic party (SPD) of a majority in parliament.

While most analysts expect Merkel to survive the clash with the CSU, it is unlikely to be the last occasion on which the sister party seeks to distance itself from a chancellor it sees as too centrist for its own supporters.

Spain’s maritime rescue service on Sunday picked up 160 people from five boats that were crossing the dangerous Strait of Gibraltar from northern Africa.

The rescue service said 57 migrants were rescued from three boats on Sunday morning and brought ashore in Tarifa, at the southernmost tip of the Iberian peninsula. Another rescue vessel took 103 people to Algeciras, a large port city to the east.

The number of people reaching Europe by the so-called western Mediterranean land and sea route to Spain has surpassed boat arrivals to Italy this year.</s>BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives settled a row over migration that threatened to topple her fragile governing coalition late on Monday evening after talks with her rebellious interior minister led him to drop his threat to resign.

Emerging after five hours of talks, Horst Seehofer, leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), told reporters he would remain in his post after a deal with Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) that he said would stem illegal immigration.

“After intensive discussions between the CDU and CSU we have reached an agreement on how we can in future prevent illegal immigration on the border between Germany and Austria,” he told reporters on leaving the CDU’s Berlin headquarters.

Under the deal, outlined by the CDU’s general secretary Annagret Kramp-Karrenbauer, migrants who have already applied for asylum in other European Union countries will be held in transit centers on the border while Germany negotiates bilateral deals for their return.

The row had stretched a 70-year-old alliance between the two parties to the breaking point. Under the alliance, CDU left the CSU to fly the conservative flag in the wealthy southern state of Bavaria.

The compromise deal meant that Seehofer was able to hail tighter immigration controls, while Merkel was able to say that Germany adhered to EU rules and was committed to the principles of freedom movement within the bloc.

“The spirit of partnership in the European Union is preserved and at the same time an important step to order (has been taken), Merkel told reporters.

But the crisis, the latest of several rows over migration between the two parties, is another sign of the EU-wide divide between those who want to maintain open borders and those who want to restrict the number of migrants entering the bloc.

Merkel’s CDU relies on the CSU to maintain power through a coalition, which also includes the center-left Social Democrats.

The CSU faces a strong challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany in October’s regional election.

Even if the immigration dispute has now been settled, it leaves Seehofer, who has gone back on a threat to resign, diminished, experts said. The dispute, and Monday’s compromise, are also a sign that the authority of Merkel, once Europe’s most powerful leader, is waning after 12-1/2 years in office.</s>German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday will make a last-ditch effort to end a migration row with her conservative allies by holding more talks with her interior minister, whose offer to resign cast doubt over whether her fragile government can survive.

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a last-ditch effort to resolve a row over migrant policy with her conservative allies on Monday after a top minister threatened to resign, casting doubt on whether her coalition can survive.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer offered to quit his cabinet post and the chairmanship of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) at a party meeting on Sunday. It was unclear whether this was high-risk brinkmanship aimed at making Merkel back down or whether he has simply had enough.

The CSU had threatened to impose new controls at the German border this week if they deemed that agreements and proposals Merkel brought back from a European Union summit were insufficient to ease the migrant burden.

Merkel is deadset against unilateral action by the authorities in Bavaria, the main entry point for migrants into Germany, saying it goes against European law.

Seehofer was later persuaded by party colleagues to talk to Merkel one last time on Monday to try to settle the dispute, declaring he would make his final decision within three days.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) rely on the CSU to maintain power through a coalition, also including the Social Democrats, formed three months ago after an election in September.

Germany's political crisis is the latest sign of a divide across the EU between those who want to maintain open borders and those who want to restrict the number of migrants entering the bloc.

The ructions in Berlin put pressure on the euro currency on Monday and Germany's top share index opened more than one percent lower.

Merkel and Seehofer are due to meet later in the day. Before that, a joint session of the CSU and CDU parliamentary groups is scheduled to take place, although there was some doubt whether it would go ahead.

CDU lawmakers are still backing Merkel. But the CSU is split itself on how far to push the row with the CDU, and faces a tough regional election in October with a strong challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

By letting the CSU tear itself apart over its future in the coalition, Merkel may yet rid herself of a formidable foe in Seehofer - as she has with a string of other top conservatives in her 12-1/2 years in office.

Bad blood between the two runs deep.

Seehofer, 68, a combative figure who tends to speak with a smile, has been a thorn in her side for years, especially over her open-door migrant policy and the last three years have been punctuated by a series of showdowns between the two.

He told colleagues on Sunday he saw no alternative to turning migrants back at the border despite Merkel's efforts in Brussels last week and that discussions with the chancellor had been fruitless, according to a party source.

Some party meetings got underway on Monday as CDU lawmakers lined up to urge compromise. "This is democracy, and both sides must move," senior CDU lawmaker Carsten Linnemann told broadcaster ZDF.

Veteran CDU lawmaker and former finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that the conservative bloc was standing on the edge of abyss and called for both sides to agree.

Even Bavarian premier Markus Soeder, known to take a tougher line on migrant policy even than Seehofer, said reaching a solution was very important. "One thing is clear: the stability of the government is not a question for us," Soeder said, adding that he was surprised Seehofer offered to quit.

If the row is not resolved, the 70-year old CDU-CSU alliance may break up, robbing Merkel of her parliamentary majority. This could see her trying to lead a minority government, or seek a new election.

Merkel would be only two seats short of a majority in the Bundestag lower house and may choose to rely on the Greens or pro-business Free Democrats to back her on individual policies, or possibly try to agree a more formal alliance.

She could also call a vote of no confidence, which she may win or which may trigger a new election. Opinion polls suggest the AfD would be the biggest winner in any fresh vote.

Even if Merkel, once Europe's most powerful leader, limps on as chancellor, she is widely seen as having lost control of her parliamentary group and her authority is waning.</s>Under the deal, migrants registered in other European Union countries will be held in transit centers as Germany negotiates their return. The country's rebellious interior minister had threatened to quit and pull his party from Angela Merkel's coalition government if the German chancellor did not take a harder line on asylum seekers.



Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.</s>Germany's interior minister has offered his resignation to Chancellor Angela Merkel over the government's policy on accepting migrants.

Horst Seehofer, a member of the conservative Bavarian Christian Social Union, has not only offered to resign from Merkel's Cabinet, but also from the leadership of the CSU.

His offer to step down follows a marathon meeting with senior members of his party who tried to persuade him to stay on, according to Deutsche Welle.

"In the interest of this country and the capacity of this government, which we want to maintain, we want to make an attempt to find an agreement on this central question of turning people away [at the German border]," Seehofer was quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle.

Despite tendering his resignation, the interior minister said he wanted to meet with Merkel on Monday before making a final decision.

Merkel has insisted that the migration crisis — which has seen tens of thousands of North African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers enter European Union countries in recent years — is a matter for Europe as a whole to resolve.

Although the number of migrants has dropped sharply since the crisis began in 2015, the influx has nonetheless stoked anti-immigrant sentiments across Europe, particularly in countries such as Germany and Italy, where last month the issue helped propel a right-wing government to power.

The SDU is key to Merkel's coalition. Should Seehofer resign and his party withdrawal from the coalition, it would spell the collapse of Merkel's government.

The Associated Press writes, "If Seehofer does step down, it is not immediately clear what effect the move would have on a three-week impasse between Merkel and her CSU partners, which has centered on his resolve to turn away some types of asylum-seekers at Germany's borders."

Last week, in a summit convened in an effort to resolve the migrant issue, the EU agreed to take a harder line on those seeking asylum from countries that the bloc does not consider war zones.

However, much of the deal carried the proviso that member states could participate on a "voluntary basis."

Even so, Merkel said additional agreements could give the agreement teeth. Those would include deals for Spain and Greece to take back migrants registered in those countries who are caught by police trying to enter Germany.

"The sum total of everything we have agreed upon has the same effect" as what Seehofer has demanded, Merkel said in an interview with ZDF television, as reported by AP. "That is my personal opinion. The CSU must naturally decide that for itself."</s>A resolution to Germany’s government crisis proved elusive Sunday after the head of the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union in Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc offered his resignation rather than back down from his stance against the chancellor’s migration policies.

A nearly eight-hour meeting of the CSU in Munich was put on hold after the party’s leader, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, made his offer to resign both from Merkel’s Cabinet and as head of the CSU.

After further talks with a smaller group of CSU officials seeking to change his mind, Seehofer said he had agreed to meet again with Merkel’s party before he made his decision final.

“We’ll have more talks today with the CDU in Berlin with the hope that we can come to an agreement,”Seehofer told reporters just before 2 a.m. Monday. “After that, then we will see.”

Officials of Merkel’s Christian Democrat party broke off their own separate meeting in Berlin about an hour earlier, saying they would resume at 8:30 a.m.

If Seehofer does step down, it is not immediately clear what effect the move would have on a three-week impasse between Merkel and her CSU partners, which has centered on his resolve to turn away some types of asylum-seekers at Germany’s borders.

Merkel has insisted on Europe-wide solutions to handling the waves of foreigners trying to reach the continent and the standoff could spell the end of her fourth government.

Merkel maintained earlier Sunday that a plan to regulate immigration that European Union leaders approved Friday and other agreements she hashed out with several key countries would accomplish what Seehofer seeks.

“The sum total of everything we have agreed upon has the same effect” as what Seehofer has demanded, Merkel said in an interview with ZDF television. “That is my personal opinion. The CSU must naturally decide that for itself.”

But the German news agency dpa reported that Seehofer told the meeting of CSU officials that he thinks the measures do not adequately accomplish his goals. Seehofer did not comment on that during his brief statement to journalists after his party’s meeting.

Seehofer, whose party faces a state election in the fall with a strong challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany party, has threatened to turn away at the borders migrants whose asylum requests Germany already rejected or who already sought asylum elsewhere in Europe.

Merkel has rejected that approach, saying Germany needs to address migration more broadly to preserve EU unity. If Seehofer were to go ahead with his policies, the dispute could end the decades-old conservative alliance between the CSU and the CDU.

The leader of the opposition Left Party, Katja Kipping, slammed Seehofer, saying that the “CSU is taking all of Germany and Europe hostage for an internal power struggle.”

“Horst Seehofer is not concerned with finding a solution to migration policy; he wants to open the door to right-wing populism and overthrow the chancellor,” she said.

Merkel and Seehofer met Saturday night for two hours. The German leader would not comment Sunday on the talks. She also would not speculate on whether she might fire him or if the issue could lead to a government confidence vote in parliament.

She said she would wait to see what the leadership of the two parties decides “and then we will see what comes next, step for step.”

Merkel reiterated her position that if countries start turning migrants away at national borders unilaterally, it would cause neighboring countries to close their borders and jeopardize the border-free movement within the EU.

She said the decision by leaders of European Union countries Friday to strengthen the 28-nation bloc’s exterior borders and her proposal for “anchor centers” to process migrants at Germany’s borders would work better.

“I want Europe to remain together,” she said. “That is why the unified action of Europe is so important to me.”

Merkel also secured agreement from Greece and Spain to take back from Germany migrants who previously registered in those countries. She said 14 other nations had given verbal assent to work toward similar deals.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>Little sign of compromise in German government showdown

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel and her rebellious Bavarian allies searched Monday for a way to end a standoff over migration after Germany's interior minister offered to resign, but a compromise looked elusive in the dispute that has rocked the government.

The crisis that has raised questions over the future of Merkel's 3½-month-old administration pits Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and his Bavaria-only Christian Social Union against Merkel, the head of its longtime sister party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Ahead of a difficult Bavarian state election in October, the CSU is determined to show it is tough on migration. Seehofer wants to turn asylum-seekers who have already been registered in another European Union country back at Germany's border, but Merkel is adamant that Germany shouldn't take unilateral action.

Seehofer and Merkel, who have long had a difficult relationship, have sparred over migrant policy on and off since 2015. However, the current dispute has erupted at a time when Germany is seeing far fewer newcomers than in that year's influx.

Seehofer, who reportedly argues that measures to tackle migration agreed at a European Union summit last week aren't enough, said after his party's top leaders met early Monday that he would hold talks during the day with the CDU. The leadership of Merkel's party approved a resolution Sunday stating that "turning people back unilaterally would be the wrong signal to our European partners."

It is unclear what effect Seehofer's resignation as interior minister and CSU leader, if he goes through with it, would have on the two conservative parties' governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats.

Over recent days, speculation had focused on the possibility of Merkel firing Seehofer if he went ahead unilaterally with his plan. That would likely end the seven-decade partnership of the CDU and CSU, which have a joint parliamentary group, and in turn would leave the government just short of a majority.

CDU leaders and lawmakers on Monday stressed the importance of maintaining intact the conservative alliance, Germany's strongest political force for much of its post-war history.

Deputy CDU leader Armin Laschet said the party's position is "independent of Horst Seehofer or Angela Merkel, because we want the European solution."

Merkel maintains that a plan to regulate immigration that European Union leaders approved Friday and bilateral agreements in principle that she hashed out with some countries for them to take back migrants would accomplish what Seehofer seeks.

However, the more conservative CSU believes its credibility is at stake as it tries to curb support for the anti-migration Alternative for Germany party in the upcoming Bavarian election.

European agreements "will take a very long time" to take effect and there are uncertainties over which countries will join in, hardline Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said. "So I think action in Germany to strengthen European interests is absolutely necessary."

But he also struck a conciliatory tone, saying "there is an abundance of possibilities ... for compromises," without specifying what they were. He insisted that the CSU isn't questioning the government's stability and doesn't want to break up the CDU-CSU partnership.

"We can achieve a lot in a government, but not outside," Soeder said.

The Social Democrats, who have largely been bystanders so far, demanded that their coalition partners get their act together, and called for a meeting later Monday with the conservative leaders. Party leader Andrea Nahles said that "the CSU is on a dangerous ego trip that is paralyzing Germany and Europe."

"The blame game between CDU and CSU must end, because it is irresponsible," she said.</s>Chancellor Angela Merkel has been threatened with the collapse of her government after her most senior minister attacked her deal with the European Union over migration. Mr Seehofer said the deal was affecting the “credibility” of his role as party leader and warned he saw “no alternative” but to step away from Mrs Merkel’s ‘open door policy.’ Economist Danae Kyriakopoulou suggested that the ultimatums from Mr Seehofer and his Christian Social Union (CSU) could be the Chancellor's undoing. Speaking to Bloomberg, Ms Kyriakopoulou said: "She is no stranger to crisis. She’s faced many crises over her career, most notably over the financial crisis in the euro area. "But now there are high chances this could be it for Merkel."

Mr Seehofer has been pushing for the Chancellor to agree to a tougher immigration policy. And in a bid to save her government, Ms Merkel is set to hold a crucial meeting with her Federal Interior minister and the president of the German Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble. Ms Kyriakopoulou said the meeting could result in "a few scenarios" as the German Chancellor seeks to resolve the crisis. She said: "We shall see today how the meeting goes with her coalition partners. "We could see her governing in a minority Government, we could see her Government falling apart. We shall see that today." The economist warned the fall of Mrs Merkel, or an erosion of her control over the government could have serious consequences for the European Union.

She said: "She’s not just any Chancellor, she is the symbol of the western liberal order and as Willy Brandt – former Chancellor of West Germany – said ‘it’s a weak Germany, not a strong Germany that is most dangerous for the European integration project.’ "What we could see here is, if Merkel survives this crisis, there will soon be another one. We see Donald Trump having some intentions in terms of pressuring her in the NATO summit so we shall see that again. "It’s also, when we think about the euro and European integration in terms of the European Monetary Union and the Economic Monetary Union, a political project. So far it’s been held together because there was a political will to hold it together. "If not political leaders start to drift apart because of migration policy that could also have repercussions for the euro. "So far it’s been the European Central Bank that held it together but this is no longer an option."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces resistance by the Bavarian CSU over the result of the EU asylum policy summit last week.