Merkel seeks to placate rebels on migration

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her CDU party will discuss plans to reduce immigration on Sunday as conservative rebels also meet, in key talks likely to determine the fate of her government.

Merkel’s government has been pushed to the brink over the migration issue after allowing more than 1 million asylum-seekers into Germany since 2015.

The policy has provoked a backlash from Merkel’s conservative CSU coalition partner, with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, also the CSU chief, threatening to turn back migrants at the border.

On Friday, the European Union’s 28 members hammered out a hard-fought deal to tackle migration and avert a crisis that has threatened the very fabric of the bloc.

Merkel is also proposing that migrants arriving in Germany who first registered in another EU country should be placed in special holding centers under restrictive conditions, the document says.

The agreements struck by Merkel could placate the hardline rebels in her government.

Seehofer, meanwhile, must decide whether to make good on a threat to turn away at the border migrants already registered in other EU nations.

The move would force Merkel to fire him, likely leading to a CSU walkout costing the chancellor her majority in parliament.

Sunday’s meetings will see the CDU leadership meet in Berlin while the CSU will meet in Munich.