Regardless of what did Angela Merkel as leader of Germany, its historic decision on migrants continues to define her reign. The decision of the Chancellor to open the borders of Germany more than a million refugees from the summer of 2015 made it both Saviour and villain.
It cost them dearly in the elections of 2017. Now, four months later, after the formation of a new government, a fierce struggle for immigration threatens to split her conservative bloc.
Merkel is now involved in the fight with his Minister of the interior and the friend-enemy Horst Seehofer, head of the CSU, which rules on a par with the social Democrats and the CDU Merkel. He threatened to leave the coalition in a heated dispute concerning the “master plan of migration”.
On Tuesday he was ready to submit the proposal, but Merkel has canceled it because of one point: German police are allowed to stop migrants at the border unless they have registered first in another EU country or arrived without documents.
Theoretically, this could lead to a situation when people will have to rush from one country to another in the EU, but Merkel does not want to check European unity, increasing the pressure on Greece and Italy, which struck a major blow to arriving refugees.
Angela Merkel, speaking Wednesday in the Bundestag, about the scandal of the Cambridge Analytica didn’t say a word. But there were several statements on migration crisis. The Chancellor acknowledged that another mistake she can’t forgive.
After Merkel suspended a plan Seehofer, the situation escalated into a war of words, which has put fraternal parties against each other. His “crisis talks” with Merkel did not solve anything Wednesday night parliamentary session on Thursday had to be rejected that the parties can meet each other. Now Merkel has asked for two weeks to develop a migration agreements with other EU member States.
Seehofer has long remained an irritant on the side of Merkel. He even called for her resignation for her open door policy. Now he has much more influence as Minister of the interior.
Organization Pro Asyl said that the ban on entry into the country at the border without following the proper procedures is illegal and demands that the conservatives have left their “hysterical” behavior.
Although at first glance it seems that this problem concerns immigration, basically it is nothing but a struggle for supremacy between the two conservative parties. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has blamed both sides and said, “work on the management of our country is not an episode of “Game of thrones”.
This political battle may seem a storm in a glass of water, but here clearly seen by the fact that the political arena for Merkel changed her fourth term. New right-wing leaders in neighboring Austria and Italy are promoting anti-immigration program of the populist party gained ground in the EU, and Merkel cannot rely on their fellow conservatives to get their support in the country.
