Merkel
faces grassroots mutiny on refugees
The
normally popular chancellor is told her refugee policy is failing
Germany.
By MATTHEW
KARNITSCHNIG AND JANOSCH DELCKER 10/15/15, 1:12 PM CET Updated
10/15/15, 3:15 PM CET
Angela Merkel heads
to Brussels Thursday under increasing pressure from her own
conservative base to take drastic measures to limit the flow of
refugees into the country.
At a meeting of her
Christian Democratic Union in Saxony late Wednesday, the German
chancellor came under fire as local officials implored her to
reinforce Germany’s borders.
“Your party is no
longer our CDU,” Michael Weickert, a Leipzig city council member,
told the chancellor.
The comment was a
reference to Merkel’s pronouncement last month that a Germany that
didn’t welcome refugees would “no longer be my country.” One
dissident held up a sign demanding that Merkel be “dethroned.”
Other participants called her refugee strategy a failure and
questioned her commitment to serving Germany.
“My service to
Germany is that I try to give honest answers,” Merkel countered.
The heated meeting,
ostensibly held to discuss ways to modernize the CDU’s program, was
dominated by the refugee question, reflecting the deep political
challenge Merkel faces in her own camp to win support for her refugee
policy.
Bavarian state
premier Horst Seehofer, Merkel’s conservative ally and her most
prominent critic on the refugee question, renewed his critique of
government’s handling of the crisis on Thursday.
“What people need
is action,” not reassurances and warm words, he said in Munich. He
warned that Germany and Europe faced a “grandiose failure” if
they didn’t find ways to limit the number of refugees.
Merkel, speaking to
the Bundestag Thursday morning before heading to Brussels, reiterated
her conviction that the crisis could only be confronted through
international cooperation in what she called a “historic test”
for the EU. She also stressed Turkey‘s “key role” in finding a
solution. She is due to travel to Istanbul for talks with Turkish
leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday.
Other measures to
secure the EU’s external borders should include staffing up the EU
border service Frontex and the introduction of so-called “hotspots”
where arriving refugees can be housed, registered and their claims
for asylum assessed.
At the same time,
Merkel said, one shouldn’t make the mistake of focusing exclusively
on movement between Turkey and Greece, stressing the importance of
cooperating with all transit countries, including North African
states, which will be on the agenda of a special EU summit on
migration to be held in Malta in November.
Once more, the
chancellor indirectly criticised EU countries which have been
hesitant to help deal with the influx of refugees. “I expect from
this Council that everyone will contribute something,” she said, to
applause from parliament.
This article was
updated to correct the destination of Merkel’s Turkish trip to
Istanbul, rather than Ankara.
Authors:
Matthew Karnitschnig
and Janosch Delcker
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