[ad_1]
In recent weeks, the German government coalition and Chancellor Angela Merkel are facing survival problems. The reason is a man: Horst Seehofer, Minister of the Interior of the country. Mr Seehofer is not only a minister, he is an old conservative who has led the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) for 10 years. Berlin's conservatives, mostly from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), rely heavily on their sister party in the south to survive; After the verdict of 2017, they also depend on the Social Democrats.
The cracks were inherent to the coalition from the start. While Merkel had taken a stand for refugees, Mr Seehofer and his supporters were not satisfied. Bavaria is known for its own conservative policies, including migration and asylum. Controls near the Austrian border have been in place for years.
In 2017, the UN had accused Germany of institutional racism and criticized the racial profiling of the German police. Recently, Bavaria made the headlines with its new law on the police, which virtually allows the executive to do what he wants, including mbad surveillance and arbitrary detention. While CSU politicians praised the new law, saying it would "prevent terrorism," many observers said that with the law, Bavaria was targeting the basic rights of the people. "The Bavarian police has control powers that no German authority has owned since 1945," writes Zeit one of the leading German newspapers.
Processing of asylum applications
However, at present, all these problems seem to have been forgotten. Instead, the German debate is dominated by migration and the refugee crisis. Several of Mr Seehofer's reflections on Ms Merkel's migration policies were relayed by several media outlets, who quoted him as saying that he "could no longer work with this woman". CSU politicians joined Mr Seehofer in criticizing Merkel. "We want to solve this problem with the Chancellor, but there is a crisis of confidence," said Alexander Dobrindt, another prominent CSU politician.
Meanwhile, Merkel remained relaxed. However, she also suggested that Mr Seehofer would not be able to complete his new migration policy plans, and that he would fire him even if he acted in that way. In his "master plan" of migration, Mr Seehofer said that he wanted to refuse asylum applications from people who have already officially entered the Schengen area through the intermediary of Another country.
Ms. Merkel, on the other hand, warned that the neighbors of Germany rush to close their borders, the proposal will have a negative effect. German business leaders sided with Merkel. Last month, after a long discussion at an EU meeting, Member States agreed to establish migrant processing centers in different countries, but also declared that any compliance would be voluntary.
At the same time, the Social Democrats party in the German government, are not happy about the current debate. According to party president Andrea Nahles, the whole discussion is not really about refugee politics but about power struggles and internal rivalries. Nahles also said her party would not take part in such "antics". Legislative elections of the state will be held in Bavaria in October. Many observers believe that the CSU will lose its absolute majority, especially because of the emergence of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which exploits the refugee issue since It has taken on importance in the political landscape.
Emran Feroz is a freelance journalist based in Stuttgart
[ad_2]
Source link
