Conservatives
chide Merkel on refugees
Christian
Democrats warn the open-door policy doesn’t have party backing.
By JANOSCH DELCKER
10/7/15, 6:24 PM CET Updated 10/7/15, 6:28 PM CET
BERLIN – German
Chancellor Angela Merkel has received a letter from Conservative
party members complaining about her handling of the refugee crisis.
“Dear Madam
Chancellor,” began the letter from 34 state and local politicians
from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), dated October 4 and
published Wednesday by the German news agency DPA, “We address you
with deep concern about the future of our country and of Europe.”
“This ‘policy of
open borders,’ which is currently practiced, is neither in
accordance with European or German law, nor is it in line with the
party program of the CDU,” they wrote. They called on her to reduce
the flow of refugees to Germany, and added that many people in the
party don’t feel represented by the way Berlin has dealt with the
crisis.
Though there were
few prominent signatories — for instance, no members of the federal
Parliament – the letter comes at a time when support for Merkel’s
policies is waning within her party and among voters.
The party members
warned in the letter that Germany’s capacity has reached its
limits, yet acknowledged, “a further larger influx of refugees is
to be expected during the next weeks and months.”
On Monday,
top-selling Bild newspaper reported as many as 1.5 million people
could seek asylum in Germany this year — almost double the
government’s last estimate.
Last week, for the
first time since the crisis began, a majority of people said in a
poll that the number of refugees arriving “scared” them. In the
same poll, for state broadcaster ARD, just 54 percent said they were
satisfied with Merkel’s performance — her lowest rating in nearly
four years.
“This
‘policy of open borders,’ … is neither in accordance with
European or German law, nor is it in line with the party program of
the CDU” — Conservative figureheads to Merkel
Merkel is also under
pressure on the refugee issue from her Bavarian Conservative allies,
whose leader, Horst Seehofer, said Wednesday he wanted to discuss
“emergency measures,” according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“Otherwise Berlin
will say that the Bavarians only speak about being at the limits of
their capacity, but they show every day that they are still able to
manage the situation,” he said, according to the paper.
In September,
Seehofer infuriated Merkel by inviting Hungarian Prime Minister
Victor Orbán to a party gathering to talk about Budapest’s tough
stance on asylum seekers.
In a radio interview
Sunday, Merkel defended her decision last month to let in hundreds of
thousands of refugees who had amassed on the Hungarian border trying
to reach Germany and Austria, saying it was clear that nobody could
stop them.
Authors:
Janosch Delcker
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