German Chancellor Merkel, Interior Minister Seehofer Reach Agreement

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government remains intact after she reached a deal Monday over the country’s migration policy, ending a political standoff with her interior minister.

Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Social Union, or CSU, the Bavarian sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, the CDU, was at a stalemate with Merkel over how many migrants Germany would accept and how the country would control its borders.

Seehofer offered to quit as interior minister and as leader of the CSU during a marathon party meeting on Sunday, but was later persuaded by CSU colleagues to meet with Merkel one more time and attempt to resolve the disagreement, Reuters reported.

Late Monday, general secretaries of both parties said Germany will establish transit centers to return migrants to countries where they have already registered for asylum. Germany will work with countries where migrants started the asylum process before sending them back to those countries, CDU Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said.

Merkel called the agreement a “good compromise after tough negotiations and difficult days.” Returning migrants to the county where they first registered with the agreement of that nation preserved the EU’s “spirit of partnership,” Merkel said.
Seehofer said the deal ensured that he would hold his post as interior minister.
“I’m pleased we managed to get this agreement — it has shown again it’s worth fighting for something like this. Now we have a tenable clear agreement for the future.”

How did we get here?

The political crisis is one more sign of a growing rift in Europe between those who want to work together to reduce the number of migrants and refugees entering the bloc, and those who have grown tired of failed attempts to reach bloc-wide agreements and are taking unilateral action.

Seehofer, who repeatedly called for tougher policies on refugees, had given Merkel two weeks to reach an agreement with other European Union leaders that would allow German police to reject asylum seekers at the border who are already registered in another EU country. Under EU law, those people must be taken in and arrangements made on a case by case basis to send them back to the first country of entry.

Seehofer had threatened to implement that policy unilaterally if Merkel could not reach a satisfactory deal by Sunday. Instead, he reportedly offered to step down, a move that could have provided temporary respite for Merkel but might have meant the end of the decades-old CDU/CSU alliance and the coalition government.
Speaking ahead of an EU summit last week, Merkel — a staunch advocate of EU-wide solutions — said migration could be a “make or break” issue for the union.
Europe’s leaders emerged from talks with a bloc-wide agreement that it was best to deal with the issue collectively rather than unilaterally. But the wording was vague and nations will participate in relocation and resettlement programs only on a voluntary basis.

Speaking at his party’s annual gathering Sunday, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister and leader of the anti-immigrant League Party said he wanted to create a pan-European association of like-minded parties, Reuters reported, a further indication that nationalist forces are gaining strength.

Merkel insisted the EU-wide deal reached on Friday was a victory, but Seehofer’s party was not so sure. The CSU is fighting state elections in Bavaria in October and, under pressure from the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is seeking to burnish its own anti-refugee credentials in an attempt to win back voters.

Merkel and Seehofer had long battled over the right approach to migration, but seemed to reach an agreement after federal elections last year when the chancellor agreed to try to limit the number of refugees arriving in Germany each year to 200,000 — a policy that Seehofer had repeatedly demanded and Merkel had consistently rejected.

The latest flareup was triggered when Seehofer announced a 63-point “migration master plan” last month, which Merkel refused to endorse due to the proposal to reject asylum seekers already registered elsewhere. Merkel agrees that the current rules — known as the Dublin regulation — must be reformed, but insists that must be done at the European level.

courtesy : CNN
photo : europapress.es

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