BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel was fighting on Tuesday to stamp out the first major row within her uneasy coalition, as disputes over her refugee policy returned to haunt her while she negotiates a broad EU asylum deal.
The discord within her conservative bloc burst into the open on Monday when hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, of Merkel’s Bavarian allies CSU, hastily cancelled the presentation of his tough new “masterplan” on immigration.
The interior ministry said in a short statement that the unveiling of the plan had been pushed back indefinitely, acknowledging that “several points still need to be agreed”. Merkel has made clear she rejects a plan to turn back at German borders any asylum-seeker already registered in another EU country, arguing that her country shouldn’t go it alone while Europe searches for a common policy.
Seehofer, the former premier of conservative Bavaria state, has long been one of the fiercest critics of Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders at the height of Europe’s migration crisis in 2015.
Highlighting the chasm, Seehofer invited to Berlin Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who on Monday flatly refused to allow a rescue vessel carrying hundreds of migrants to dock. — AFP
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