(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) (Associated Press) 
 
 BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel and her rebellious political allies broke an impasse over immigration that threatened to bring down Germany's coalition government by agreeing on a compromise late Monday that both sides said addressed their concerns. Merkel has been at odds for more than three weeks with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer over his insistence that migrants who have sought asylum elsewhere in the European Union should be turned away at Germany's borders. But the two emerged from about five hours of talks saying they agreed to establish "transit centers" on Germany's border with Austria where asylum-seekers would be evaluated and, if it turned out they already had applied for protection in another EU country, sent back to that country. Individuals who are rejected by those countries will be pointed back into Austria "upon agreement" with Vienna, according to the deal that Merkel called a "very good compromise." The Social Democrats, who have largely been bystanders so far, demanded that their coalition partners get their act together, and planned a meeting with the conservative leaders. Whether the two conservative parties would be able to get Merkel's junior coalition partner, the center-left Social Democratic Party, to agree also was an open question. The idea of the new transit centres appears similar to the transit regime at airports, where travellers do not actually enter the country. Merkel was equally steadfast in arguing that such a unilateral action would cause other countries to close their borders and jeopardize the passport-free movement that is a hallmark of Europe's Schengen zone. Merkel had argued a plan to regulate immigration that EU leaders approved Friday and bilateral agreements in principle that she hashed out with some EU countries for them to take back migrants would accomplish what Seehofer seeks. But it is not clear whether Austria's screening procedures will mirror Germany's.
– Germany's Angela Merkel has struck a deal to remain in power, at least for now. Merkel, long seen as a champion of the rights of immigrants to move freely within the European Union, agreed to toughen border policies to end a revolt from within her own governing coalition, reports the BBC. The big concession is that Merkel agreed to set up "transit centers" on the German-Austria border and make it easier to turn some immigrants away. The "transit centers" are essentially "migrant camps," reports the New York Times, which sees the Merkel deal as a "spectacular turnabout" on her part. Details: Little choice: Merkel's own conservative interior minister, Horst Seehofer, forced Merkel into the move by threatening to resign and bring down her government. The two emerged with the deal late Monday after about five hours of talks, reports the AP. Seehofer leads the Christian Social Union, the sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.