The Austrian Chancellor reacted harshly to the demands of German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to expel refugees to the EU country in which they were originally registered. Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz threatened Germany with “retaliatory measures” if she did not allow refugees to cross her border.
He said this on Thursday, June 28, at the EU summit in Brussels.
Thus, Kurtz responded to the demand of the German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to expel refugees to the country of the European Union in which they were first registered. The Austrian leader expressed doubts about this approach. In his opinion, the problem is that refugees move freely across Europe, «without registering at all.»
EU summit has not yet made a decision on refugees
German Chancellor Angela Merkel opposes the approach that Seehofer offers. She believes that it is necessary to work out a “European solution” to prevent the movement of refugees in the EU. Earlier, Horst Seehofer threatened to use the powers of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and give orders to the border guards not to let migrants into Germany from July 1.
According to some political scientists, the dispute between the minister and the chancellor could lead to the collapse of the government coalition in Germany. It was expected that EU members would try to find a joint solution to the refugees at the EU summit in Brussels. However, on the first day of the summit, Italy blocked a joint statement by the participants. The discussion will continue on Friday, June 29.
Greens ready to refuse trust in Merkel government because of refugees
Opposition parties in the Bundestag call on the Chancellor to cast a vote on confidence in the government over a dispute over refugees between Merkel and Interior Minister Seehofer. The German «greens» will not support Chancellor Angela Merkel if she is in a dispute between the CDU and CSU on refugees will decide to raise the question of trust in parliament. There is no confidence in the current policy of the Chancellor, supporting the policy of self-isolation of Germany, said the head of the green faction in the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, on Tuesday, June 26, in an interview with ARD. According to the politician, Merkel agrees with 62 out of 63 points of the “master plan” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on limiting the influx of refugees into Germany, prepared by the head of the department Horst Seehofer.
In turn, the Left Party faction in the Bundestag and the head of the alternative-right-wing party for Germany, Jörg Meuthen, called on Merkel to raise the question of trust. Three opposition parties do not have enough deputies to dismiss the government led by Merkel in the event of a vote of confidence.
In the event of the collapse of the current “big coalition”, Goering-Eckardt does not see an opportunity to participate in the new government at the CSU site, as some politicians of the Christian Democratic Union share the CSU’s position on refugees.
The current dispute between Merkel and Seehofer flared up on one of the 63 points of the plan of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to limit the influx of refugees. At the suggestion of Seehofer, migrants who are already registered in an EU country should not be allowed into Germany. According to observers, the stubbornness of the politician with whom he insists on his initiative may be connected with the upcoming Bavarian Landtag elections in October. Here, the ruling CSU party runs the risk of missing out on the part of the votes that the right-wing populists from Alternative for Germany (ADG), which sharply criticize Merkel’s migration policy, can get.
EU leaders unable to agree on refugees
Italy presented a list of ten items at the refugee summit. She wants to abandon the Dublin Agreement. An extraordinary summit on migration was held in Brussels on Sunday, June 24. It was attended by representatives of 16 of the 28 countries of the European Union. They failed to work out a general decision on refugees.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following the summit, announced her desire to find a pan-European solution on all possible topics. “Where this is not possible, we want to unite those who are ready for cooperation and develop a common framework for action,” Merkel explained.
Italy v. Dublin Agreement
Italy does not exclude “technical arrangements” in this area, but puts forward a list of conditions. So, the Prime Minister of this country, Giuseppe Conte, presented at the summit a ten-point plan, which, in particular, involves the rejection of the Dublin Agreement. It implies that the EU country to which he made his first entry is responsible for the refugee.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the discussion useful, saying that it helped “eliminate decisions that are not in line with our values.” Macron, in particular, considers such a decision a refusal to admit refugees to the external borders of the EU.
Merkel and Seehofer dispute
Many participants in the summit noted that it was convened due to migration disputes in Germany. Horst Seehofer’s coalition partner, Minister of the Interior of Germany, intends to close German borders for undocumented refugees and for asylum seekers already registered in some other EU country. It requires that the first countries of entry for EU refugees (for example, Italy) accept them back directly from the German border.
Merkel believes that such a measure is contrary to European asylum standards and German law, and is also unfair to countries such as Greece and Italy. “Everyone is responsible for everything,” Merkel emphasized at the summit. She assured that work on resolving the migration crisis at the European level will continue.
