Merkel seeks to reassure the SPD skeptical about the center of migrants



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Angela Merkel insisted that the planned transit centers for migrants on the Austrian-German border would not be "closed camps" since she was trying to sell the German-Austrian border. idea to its skeptical partners of the social-democratic coalition. 19659005] Ms Merkel said that asylum seekers could only be detained in new facilities for two days, after which they should be transferred to conventional refugee reception centers. "According to the constitution, you can not restrict someone's freedom for more than 48 hours," she said in an interview with the ARD television channel

. Seehofer, interior minister and leader of the CSU, Bavarian brotherly party of his Christian Democrats, after a dispute between the two center-right parties on migration policy threatened to break their alliance [19659005]. the Social Democrats, a privileged partner of Merkel's grand coalition, some in the center-left camp comparing them to internment camps.

Andrea Nahles, the leader of the SPD, said that these centers were not part of the coalition agreement. , CSU and SPD. Any proposal on refugee policy that goes beyond the agreement "must be presented, substantiated and coordinated with the coalition partner," she said. on either side of his coalition, which was not formed in February after months of political uncertainty. He followed the disastrous Bundestag elections last September for the SPD and center-right bloc, all of whom earned their lowest post-war votes.

The line between the CDU and CSU exploded last month. given the power to divert refugees if they were already registered in other EU countries.

Merkel blocked the proposal, saying that such a unilateral move would lead to a cascade of border closures elsewhere that would undermine the Schengen free movement area and threaten European unity.

Finally, the CDU and the CSU reached a compromise, agreeing to set up transit centers on the German-Austrian border where refugees already registered in other countries would be detained. They would be returned to these countries, but only after Germany would have signed bilateral agreements with those states authorizing transfers.

Refugees registered in countries that refuse to sign such agreements with Germany would be sent to Austria. an agreement that Berlin still has to negotiate with Vienna. Seehofer will visit Austria Thursday to start talks on such an agreement

Ms Nahles, while the SPD leader is not a coalition minister, said the policy should be guided by three principles : "no uncoordinated national initiatives" »

SPD Secretary General Lars Klingbeil echoed this point, saying that" with the SPD there will be no camps for mass, where refugees will be imprisoned for weeks. " .

He also warned that if Germany failed to negotiate an agreement with Austria allowing the return of refugees, "all this compromise between the CDU and the CSU is based on unstable foundations."

it is clear that refugees detained in transit centers would be placed under "police surveillance" – but only for a maximum of 48 hours. "They have to be sent back to the country [where they were originally registered] within that time," she said. "If we fail to do that, then these people must be sent after that to a normal reception center."

Ms. Merkel did not rule out other conflicts between the CDU and the CSU. "I can not promise we will not discuss other issues as well, but that's what happens when you have a two-party government," she said. "This is not the first time we have an intense hassle on a very emotional issue."

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