Refugee issue hits Merkel bid to form govt
Two weeks after winning elections with a reduced majority, German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a first step on Sunday toward forming a government by trying to unite her conservative camp, which is bitterly divided over refugee policy.
Ms Merkel met for private talks with her Bavarian CSU allies led by Horst Seehofer, who blames her open-door policy
Merkel met for private talks with her allies who blame her open-door refugee policy for the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party that has brought over one million asylum seekers since 2015 for the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Mr Seehofer — who after a vote drubbing faces internal challengers, and state elections in 2018 — has revived his calls to cap the national refugee intake at 200,000 a year, a demand Ms Merkel has consistently rejected as unconstitutional.
In an opening salvo on Sunday, the CSU published a 10-point list of demands, including a refugee “upper limit”, a broad return to the conservative roots of the centre-right alliance, and a committment to “healthy patriotism”.
The talks were expected to last deep into the night, with Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann conceding the situation was “not easy”. — AFP
Berlin, Oct. 8: Two weeks after winning the German elections with a reduced majority, chancellor Angela Merkel takes a first step Sunday on a rocky road towards forming a government by trying to get her own conservative house in order.
Her meeting from 1000 GMT with Bavarian sister party CSU kicks off weeks of exploratory coalition talks involving four parties, which will fight for ministerial posts and issues from EU relations to climate policy.
The trickiest questions centre on refugees after Ms Merkel allowed in more than one million asylum seekers in the past two years — the decision that drove the shock rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
CSU leader Horst Seehofer, a harsh critic of Merkel’s open-door policy, has revived his calls to cap refugee numbers at 200,000 a year — a demand Ms Merkel has consistently rejected as unconstitutional. Mr Seehofer is in no mood to budge after his party too took a drubbing and lost many votes to the AfD, which ran on populist slogans such as “Stop Islamisation”.
He has vowed to close the party’s exposed “right flank” with a tough stance on migrants and law and order, as he fights challengers snapping at his heels ahead of state elections next year.
Ms Merkel’s CDU too is nervous ahead of a Lower Saxony state poll, where it is running neck-and-neck with the Social Democrats (SPD), who are in need of a win after their bruising defeat in the September 24 election. — AFP