The CSU programme also calls for the release of €100m (£80m) in federal funds
to help local authorities tackle the problem, according to Spiegel magazine.

Mrs Merkel has yet to respond to the proposals, and it is not clear whether
they will be adopted as government policy.

The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of her CDU but it often takes a more
conservative stance.

Although its proposals target the border with Austria, it is Italy that is the
real focus of the CSU’s anger. Large numbers of asylum-seekers enter the EU
via Italy, after crossing the Mediterranean from Africa.

Under international law, they are supposed to claim asylum in the first
country they reach, but the Schengen Area’s open borders mean it is easy for
them to travel on to Germany, and Mr Seehofer claims the Italian authorities
are not doing enough to stop them.

“Italy is in clear violation of the Schengen accords. If this doesn’t
stop, Germany has to seriously consider stopping this violation via border
controls,” Mr Seehofer told Bild newspaper “We must set quotas for
refugees in Europe. And we have to deal with the fact that refugees need to
be shared out among EU members fairly.”

France temporarily reimposed immigration controls on its border with Italy in
2011 for the same reason. At the time the European Commission ruled the
temporary border checks were legal, but said they did not respect “the
spirit of the Schengen rules”.