Merkel pacts with 14 countries for asylums

BERLIN.- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has achieved a victory in immigration in reaching agreement with 14 governments of the European Union (EU), which accepted the return of asylum seekers admitted to Germany after registering in these countries.

According to a document that Merkel presented to his partners in the coalition government, which put pressure on the issue of immigration, the Chancellor made commitments to repatriate migrants with Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal and Sweden. The Social Christian Union (CSU) of Bavaria and the Social Democrat Party (SPD), Ms Merkel, have also highlighted the return agreements of asylum seekers concluded with Spain and Greece. For its part, Berlin has agreed to host refugees from both countries who would like to meet family members already in Germany.

Before the presentation of the document, Merkel yesterday announced the phone number on the results of the EU summit Brussels, where members agreed to further close their external borders and create centers for refugees rescued from the sea in Europe and try to do the same in Africa.

The Chancellor received an ultimatum from her Bavarian partner Horst Seehofer until the beginning of July to curb the entry of migrants into Germany.

If he did not, he was facing a possible dissolution of the government coalition three months after assuming his fourth term as Chancellor. This would have been the end of a 70-year alliance between Bavarian conservatives and Merkel's conservative CDU, depriving it of the majority in the first European power

"This is absolutely in the right direction", he declared. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, whose party seeks to recover lost voters in front of a far-right party.

The publication of the document was quickly tainted by confusion when the Hungarian government denied having reached an agreement with Merkel. "No such agreement has been reached," said Zoltan Kovacs, a government spokesman. The Czech Republic also denied being part of this group of countries

. Negotiating the fine print of the agreements will take some time, as stated by German official sources this week. But even without Hungary and the Czech Republic, the group of countries willing to collaborate with Berlin is at first glance large enough to overcome at least some of the Bavarians' demanding resistance.

Germany has received about one million refugees since 2015, and although asylum claims have collapsed over the last two years, migration has returned to the forefront of political debate, pushed by the German electoral calendar.

Bavaria, a prosperous state of southern Germany, It will hold its regional elections on October 14, where the CSU is playing its absolute majority, because of the push of the far right and its rhetoric anti-immigration.

AFP Agencies, ANSA and Reuters