The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Merkel’s government facing ultimatum over immigration
BERLIN — The rebels within German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government who are seeking a tougher line on asylum seekers gave her two weeks starting Monday to solve a problem that has bedeviled Europe for the past three years.
The ultimatum removes, for now, the immediate threat that Merkel’s government will collapse amid a mutiny by the Christian Social Union (CSU), the hardline Bavarian sister party of the chancellor’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
But it puts intense pressure on Merkel to reach a deal with her European counterparts at a summit next week or risk the revival of a showdown within her conservative bloc that has kept Berlin on edge for days.
As of late last week, the CSU’s leader, interior minister Horst Seehofer, had been threatening to defy Merkel as early as Monday and to implement new border controls that she opposes. Had he gone ahead, the chancellor would have had a fateful choice: acquiesce and emerge a dramatically weakened leader, or fire Seehofer and risk a break with the CSU that could bring her government crashing down.
That choice now could be delayed until July 1 if Merkel fails to win concessions from her fellow EU leaders, a possibility given that the tide has moved against her in Europe with the election of governments promoting anti-migrant policies in Italy and Austria. The clash could be avoided altogether if she succeeds.
But even as the tension appeared to be easing on Monday afternoon with the announcement of the new timeline, President Donald Trump gleefully called attention to the possibility that Merkel might fall.
“The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition,” Trump tweeted minutes after Merkel spoke at a Berlin press conference. “Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!”
Crime in Germany is actually at the lowest level in more than a quarter-century. And Merkel, despite her struggles holding her coalition together, remains the country’s most popular politician, with a 50 percent
approval rating.
Trump’s tweet was immediately condemned by German politicians. “Always the same nonsense from the weird man in the White House,” wrote Ralf Stegner, deputy leader of Merkel’s coalition partner, the Social Democrats.
Trump’s commentary comes weeks after his ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, told the hard-right news outlet Breitbart that he saw it as part of his job to “empower” conservative politicians across Europe. He singled out Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz — who is significantly to Merkel’s right and has been critical of Merkel on immigration — for praise.
The showdown in Germany over asylum policy has exposed deep rifts on the European right.
Seehofer has proposed blocking asylum seekers who have registered in another European country from entering Germany. Merkel, who opened the country to more than a million people fleeing war, oppression and poverty in 2015 and 2016, vehemently opposes such a move. She is pressing for a Europe-wide solution to the continent’s continued struggles with migration.