Berlin (dpa) – Bavaria‘s premier accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of
“surrendering the state of law” on Saturday, deepening a rift within
the chancellor‘s conservative bloc over how Germany should handle
streams of migrants seeking safety and economic betterment.

“Simply saying a 3,000-kilometre border cannot be protected is a
surrender of the state of law in the face of reality,” Horst Seehofer
said during a political event for Bavaria‘s Christian Social Union
(CSU), the sister party of Merkel‘s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Seehofer did not name Merkel specifically and began his speech by
affirming his esteem for the chancellor: “For me it isn‘t a question
of a conflict with the chancellor, it has to do with a solution for a
current problem.”

But his comments directly refuted those made by the chancellor on
Wednesday, when she told state broadcaster ARD that Germany‘s
3,000-kilometre border could not be fenced in.

According to Seehofer, voters often ask him whether German
politicians have the migration situation under control.

“That is an alarm bell for politics if people have the impression we
stand powerless against a problem,” Seehofer said.

The unity of Merkel‘s conservative political bloc has been strained
in recent weeks by record waves of migrants streaming over Germany‘s
borders, and Bavaria has been vocal in its opposition to the
chancellor‘s open-border policy.

The state‘s interior minister quoted government figures that showed
340,000 refugees reaching Germany in the five weeks after Merkel
opened the country‘s borders to unregistered migrants from crowded
stations in Hungary on September 5.

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel chided Seehofer for threatening
to file a lawsuit with Germany‘s top court over migrant arrivals,
telling top-selling tabloid Bild that it would only incite panic and
not solve anything.

“Neither prayers nor stirring up panic or anxiety help,” Gabriel, who
chairs the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Merkel‘s coalition
government, told Bild‘s Saturday edition.

“And definitely not the tough talk coming from the CSU,” he said.

“There is no drawbridge that we can raise in front of Germany,” added
Gabriel.

Bavaria threatened to file a lawsuit with the German Constitutional
Court to limit the number of incoming asylum seekers unless Merkel‘s
government does so on its own.

Seehofer and his cabinet have also called for the rejection of asylum
applications directly on the German border, threatening to impose
their “own warranted measures.”

“I am banking above all on negotiated solutions in the coming weeks,”
Seehofer told the Rundschau-Magazin programme on Bavarian broadcaster
BR on Friday evening.

“Going to court against a government is only the last resort,” he
added.

Germans are growing increasingly worried about Merkel‘s decision last
month to loosen asylum laws and allow in more refugees from war zones
like Syria and Afghanistan. Germany‘s official forecast for asylum
seeker arrivals stands at 800,000 for this year.