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BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel felt that she had rebuffed a mutiny within her own conservative alliance after returning from marathon negotiations with her European counterparts on Friday with an agreement on how to handle the migration.
stepped on Sunday, further weakening Ms. Merkel, who was once considered a rock of European politics and the guardian of the liberal world order.
In the last round, Merkel's Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, threatened to resign over the conflict with the Chancellor's migration policy. Negotiations between the Chancellor's party and the Seehofer party of the Christian Social Union are scheduled to take place on Monday.
If Mr Seehofer resigns from his post as minister and party leader, the Christian Socialists remain in power, Merkel's government on. If he gets his party out of the coalition – a partnership that parties have forged in Parliament since the end of the Second World War – it loses its majority.
Be that as it may, the last two weeks have left the Chancellor severely damaged and many Germans wonder how long it will last.
They exposed the dramatic weakening of a leader who, not so long ago, was considered a key advocate of liberal values - a sentiment that culminated in 2015 Germany's hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere who are not sought after by neighboring European countries.
Three years later, as nationalism and populism take root in different corners of Europe and Germany "Merkel was synonymous with the liberal world order," said Andrea Römmele from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. "She was an authority at home and abroad, but that is the story."
"If she does not come down now, she falls into the next crisis," Ms. Römmele said.
Over the past nine years, Merkel has stumbled from one political crisis to the next. In the September elections, his party saw a significant decline in voter support, and a far-right party entered parliament for the first time in more than 60 years. In November, a first attempt to form a coalition failed. Earlier this year, a second attempt weighed in for weeks. Finally, it took Mrs Merkel nearly six months to form a government
Three months later, the Bavarian rebellion was finally able to defeat the rebel coalition
Bavaria, with its 500-mile land border, s & # 39, the front line of the migrant crisis was found in 2015. And even though migrant arrivals have slowed down considerably since then, the far-right alternative for Germany has made gains.
Before the October election, Mr. Seehofer The Conservatives reacted by veering sharply to the right themselves.
A former Bavarian prime minister with imposing stature and a sharp tongue, the Home Secretary was one of Merkel's fiercest critics of migration over the past three years. more in keeping with the nativist forces shaping politics in neighboring countries than with his own boss.
A friend of Victor Orban, the semi-authoritarian Prime Minister of Hungary, recently reflected on an alliance on migration. with its far-right counterparts in Austria and Italy.
The last impasse concerns a request by Mr Seehofer that Germany return to border migrants who are already registered elsewhere in the European Union, to ensure security in the country
Ms. Merkel defended a European solution on the issue of migration, warning that a unilateral action could endanger freedom of movement within the European Union, a central precept of the 28-member bloc
. business during the Merkel era. During financial and debt crises, Germany has imposed austerity policies on debtor countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and, most importantly , Greece. Even though the Obama administration and a whole series of economists have called for more flexible policies, the Germans have stood firm
. Beyond the economy, Ms Merkel has been the cornerstone of European foreign policy. The conflict in Ukraine while other European countries were much less enthusiastic.
And it is Mrs. Merkel who stood up to President Trump, to the cheers of many Europeans and others who embraced her as a defender of the liberal order [19659002HoweverthepoliticallandscapehaschangeddramaticallynotonlyinGermanybutalsoelsewhereinEurope
The rise of President Emmanuel Macron in France marked a rebalancing of power far from Berlin. But France still needs Germany, and Merkel, distracted and fragile, could not be the strong partner that Mr Macron needs.
At a summit of the European Union in Brussels last week, the Chancellor turned to partners for help on the issue of migration, winning agreements more than a dozen nations to take back the people registered in their countries and other measures to strengthen the EU's external border.
But the leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland all are led by nationalist or populist parties that have rejected a common EU approach to migration, and even calls to host refugees – have raised questions about their willingness to help Germany.
The stake is not only influence and coalition, but its own political survival. Since the end of the Second World War, his conservative Christian Democratic Union has worked together in Parliament with the Bavarian Christian Social Union. If the sister parties were to break up, Merkel could face a vote of confidence, decide to resign, or try to pursue a minority coalition with the Social Democrats.
Seehofer and the Chancellor met for hours on Saturday night before the leaders of each party met separately on Sunday to discuss among themselves.
With regard to the talks on Sunday, the Chancellor was confident that the measures she had taken "I share the goal of the CSU on the one hand to reduce the number of people." immigrants brought to Europe by traffickers, and on the other hand I also share "Asylum seekers can not simply choose the country they want to go to," Merkel told public broadcaster ZDF before the beginning of the talks.
The problem has consequences beyond the borders of Germany .The Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, said that if Mr. Seehofer ordered refugees registered in others European Union countries to be pushed back from the border between Germany and Austria, the Austrian government would do the same.
so we will do the same, of course, to avoid damage to the Republic of Austria, "said Sunday Mr. Kurz to the German newspaper Bild
. Ms Merkel warned against such a chain reaction, which could effectively put an end to the free movement of people and goods in the Schengen area, a group of 26 countries including Austria and Austria. Germany, which have open borders between Member States. interview Sunday, the Chancellor defended her decision to seek a European solution. "We live in a time when there is a lot at stake," said Merkel, adding a warning that "Europe" may be more endangered than we think. "
"The question of migration can break Europe"
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