Refugee policy causes disputes

– German Chancellor Angela Merkel fought yesterday 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 when Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of Merkel’s Bavarian allies CSU hastily cancelled plans to present his “masterplan” on immigration.

The interior ministry said in a short statement the presentation had been pushed back because “several points still need to be agreed”.

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.

Voters handed Merkel her worst-ever score in September’s elections. –