Merkel
strikes migration truce on German right
Coalition
partners agree a common position after weeks of sniping.
By JANOSCH DELCKER
11/1/15, 10:09 PM CET Updated 11/1/15, 11:59 PM CET
BERLIN — German
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party and one
of its ruling coalition partners sought Sunday to move past their
differences over the migration crisis.
Merkel’s CDU and
its Bavarian sister party CSU, led by Horst Seehofer, released a
joint position paper calling for the implementation of “transit
zones” at the country’s border and temporarily freezing family
reunification efforts.
In a concession by
Seehofer, the paper did not include an upper limit on the number of
refugees allowed in the country, signaling that the CSU has given up
demands for such a measure. Seehofer gave an ultimatum to Merkel last
week pressing her to set such an upper limit. Merkel strongly opposed
the idea.
The accord follows
two difficult months for Merkel, who has taken a hit in opinion polls
for her handling of the crisis, while parties like the far-right
populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) gain in popularity. Merkel’s
endorsement of transit zones and a reunification freeze suggest she
is trying to regain the confidence of the right without abandoning
her left flank. She continues to stand by her decision to temporarily
open the borders in September.
The proposed Sunday
truce buys Merkel and Seehofer political breathing space. Both have
important party congresses coming up in the next few weeks where they
need to show their faithful they can stick together to keep power in
Berlin.
Coming into this
weekend, the chancellor wanted to reestablish unity within her
right-of-center camp, and differentiate it from the Social Democrats
(SPD) on migration. By tacking toward Seehofer on Sunday, Merkel took
a risk to quiet the fighting within the political family at the cost
of possibly alienating her coalition partners in the SPD.
The risk seems
manageable. The SPD leader and vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, has
no incentive to walk away from the government: His standing is
considerably weaker than Merkel’s. According to a recent poll, 40
percent of Germans consider the chancellor best suited to deal with
the refugee crisis, 28 percent Seehofer and only 8 percent Gabriel.
And, though Merkel
moved to pacify the right, she didn’t give up on her “We can cope
with it” stance on Sunday, keeping her firmly on the center and
left ground that the SPD might want to claim on this issue. Gabriel
could even live with an upper limit on new arrivals as called for by
Seehofer.
The reprieve for
Merkel could be temporary. Expect new trouble for her if Austria does
not keep its promise to bring refugees to the German (read Bavarian)
border in a more orderly fashion and for that or any other reason
Seehofer backs away from Sunday’s agreement. Another coalition
meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
Transit zone
divisions
Merkel, Seehofer and
Gabriel met earlier Sunday for about two hours but departed without
delivering a statement. A Merkel spokesperson told journalists there
were still “several open issues that are yet to be solved,” and
other meetings were to follow among Gabriel, Merkel and Seehofer.
Only a few hours
later, however, following another meeting between the heads of the
CDU and CSU, the two parties released the joint position paper.
The paper calls for
a two year freeze on reunification of refugee families, “in order
to manage the current situation.” Earlier this weekend, reports
about the CSU planning to push this measure had prompted Gabriel to
call the idea “unconstitutional.”
The position paper
also confirms the adherence of the center-right parties to the
introduction of “transit zones,” listing them as the first of
seven national measures to be implemented and calling them “the
most urgent measure to better control our border.”
“Transit zones”
are supposed to allow authorities to detain asylum seekers at the
border while their claims are assessed. Originally suggested by the
conservative CSU, they also found backing among the center-right CDU,
including Merkel, while the left-wing SPD continues to oppose them.
Following a meeting
of the SPD heads on Saturday, SPD’s Malu Dreyer, head of the German
state of Rhineland-Palatinate, told German Press Agency DPA that
“transit zones” were both impracticable and “problematic for a
state founded on the rule of law.”
Instead, the SPD
favors the creation of so-called Einreisezentren (entry centers) in
the federal states, where refugees could instantly be registered and
file an application for asylum.
Renewed vows
The issue of
“transit zones” is helping to bring the CDU and CSU together on
migration and to focus its attacks on the SPD, observers in Berlin
say, noting that the position paper released on Sunday night was a
step in that direction.
The fighting on the
right dominated news here for weeks. Criticism of Merkel’s refugee
policy by Seehofer and other Bavarian CSU politicians peaked in late
September when Seehofer invited Hungarian Prime Minister Victor
Orbán, one of the harshest opponents of Merkel’s refugee policy on
the European level, to a CSU party meeting in Bavaria.
The influx of
migrants has impacted Bavaria the most of any German region. Seehofer
is under pressure from his party and electorate in his home region to
assert himself with Berlin and stem the flow of new arrivals.
Florian Eder
contributed to this article.
Authors: Janosch
Delcker
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