Chancellor taps heir apparent for top role
France weighs migrant law
BERLIN, Feb 19, (Agencies): Angela Merkel on Monday tapped the popular female premier of Germany’s tiny Saarland state to take over as secretary general of her conservative party, fuelling speculation the veteran chancellor is lining up her successor.
At a joint Berlin press conference, Merkel said she was “moved” that close confidante Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 55, would take the reins from her right-hand man Peter Tauber at “a difficult time” for their Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
The surprise reshuffle comes after Tauber said at the weekend he was stepping down for health reasons, and with Merkel struggling to form a new government after a tricky general election last September.
The chancellor praised Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK, as someone “who has experience and knows her own mind, whose work I have valued for years”.
Both women were coy however about whether the move meant Merkel had effectively anointed AKK as her heir apparent. “I would not give myself that label,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told reporters.
Merkel also refused to make predictions for the future, saying only she wanted to see the state premier “fully unfold her skills and capabilities in the new role”.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, dubbed the “Merkel of Saarland” and “mini-Merkel” by German media, is expected to be formally appointed at a CDU congress on Feb 26.
Annegret
Macron’s migrant law faces rough ride:
French President Emmanuel Macron faces a difficult week as lawmakers weigh up a controversial bill that toughens France’s stance on migrants, with even some of his own party reluctant to back it.
After France processed a record 100,000 asylum applications last year, Macron vowed to grant asylum faster but also to deport economic migrants more swiftly, while better integrating those who stay.
The new law will be presented to his cabinet Wednesday ahead of parliamentary debates that promise to be stormy, with migrant charities and left-wingers blasting the bill as repressive.
Staff at France’s asylum court and the Ofpra refugee protection office are even set to strike Wednesday over a law that unions have blasted as “an unquestionable break with France’s tradition of asylum”.
Centrist upstart Macron came to power in May in an election that saw his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen ride concerns over immigration to a record 34 percent of the vote.
Orban calls for anti-migrant alliance:
Hungarian leader Viktor Orban called on Sunday for a global alliance against migration as his right-wing populist Fidesz party began campaigning for an April 8 election in which it is expected to win a third consecutive landslide victory.
Popular at home but increasingly at odds politically and economically with mainstream European Union peers, Orban has thrived on external controversy, including repeated clashes with Brussels and lately the United Nations.
Those conflicts, mostly centred on migration since people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa flooded into Europe in 2015, have intensified as the elections approach and Orban poses as a saviour of Europe’s Christian nations.
Pope OKs Nigerian bishop resignation:
Pope Francis backed down Monday and accepted the resignation of Nigerian bishop who had been rejected for years by the priests of his diocese, setting a precedent that could have repercussions in Chile and elsewhere when papal authority is challenged.
The announcement came after Francis in June issued a harsh ultimatum to the priests of Nigeria’s southern Ahiara diocese, warning they would lose their jobs if they didn’t obey him and accept Monsignor Peter Okpaleke as their bishop. Francis gave each priest 30 days to pledge their obedience.
The Vatican said Monday that 200 priests obeyed, but some still expressed problems in working with Okpaleke.
Catalan separatist walks free on bail:
A Spanish judge on Monday allowed leading Catalan separatist Marta Rovira, who faces charges over her region’s independence bid, to walk free but ordered her to post bail of 60,000 euros ($75,000), a source close to the case said.
Judge Pablo Llarena placed Rovira under judicial control, but stopped short of putting her behind bars for the duration of an ongoing probe into charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.
Rovira is the deputy leader of the leftwing separatist ERC party, whose chief Oriol Junqueras has been in custody since November.
Macedonia hopes to settle name row:
Macedonia expects to reach a settlement of its decadesold name row with Greece by a NATO summit in the summer, its prime minister said on Monday.
The two countries have agreed to step up negotiations this year to resolve the dispute, which has frustrated the ambitions of Greece’s small northern neighbour to join NATO and the European Union. Greece is a member of both.
Greece objects to the former Yugoslav republic’s use of the name Macedonia, arguing that it, along with contentious articles in Skopje’s constitution, could imply territorial claims over its own northern region of the same name.
2 Americans, 6 others held in Serbia:
Eight foreign citizens, including two Americans and two Ukrainians, have been arrested in Serbia on suspicion that they tried to photograph and enter military facilities without authorization, officials said on Monday.
State TV said the US and Ukrainian citizens allegedly tried to take shots of the military security headquarters in downtown Belgrade with a drone. The report did not identify them or give details, saying only that the Ukrainians are women and that they are all in police custody.