13:53 HRS IST
From K Mammen Mathew
Berlin, Oct 31 (PTI) German Chancellor Angela Merkel will
hold emergency talks with the leaders of her two coalition
partners over the weekend in a bid to resolve a dispute over
tackling the refugee crisis, which is threatening to tear
apart her two year old government, as thousands of asylum
seekers continued to stream into this country.
Merkel will begin the two-day discussions this evening in
Berlin by meeting her Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer, who
earlier this week gave her an ultimatum to stop the massive
influx of refugees into his state from neighbouring Austria by
Sunday.
The state premier of Bavaria and chairman of Christian
Social Union (CSU), a sister party of Merkel’s Christian
Democratic Union (CDU), had threatened to take “appropriate
measures” if his demands were not met.
Bavaria has been Germany’s front-line state in the
current refugee crisis and over 300,000 asylum-seekers have
crossed into the state through Austria since Germany opened
its border for Syrian refugees in early September, according
to the estimates of the Austrian authorities.
The refugees, who are mostly from Syria, Afghanistan,
Iraq and Eritrea, have been travelling through Greece,
Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria to reach
Germany, which is their preferred destination.
In interviews ahead of the meeting, some senior CSU
leaders have hinted at the possibility of the party pulling
out its three ministers from Merkel’s Cabinet if no agreement
is reached at the weekend to curb the flow of refugees.
Seehofer has been one of the most vociferous critics of
Merkel’s generous policy towards the refugees and he has been
demanding her to put a limit on their number Germany would
take.
Seehofer also wants the federal government to press ahead
with plans to set up “transit zones” on the German side of the
border with Austria in order to keep the refugees there
temporarily instead of allowing them to travel to other parts
of the country.
Such camps are intended to screen the refugees within two
days of their arrival there and to deport immediately those
who fail to meet the requirements for an asylum in Germany.
However, the transit zone plan was already rejected by
Sigmar Gabriel, Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the Social
Democratic Party (SPD), saying he was against the setting up
of “internment centres” at the county’s borders.
Gabriel in an interview yesterday criticised the dispute
between the CDU and CSU as “unworthy and irresponsible” and
said it restricted the functioning of the government.
Gabriel will join Merkel and Seehofer for a discussion on
the refugee crisis tomorrow.
Even if the CSU pulls out its ministers from the cabinet
and denies Merkel the support of its MPs in Parliament, her
“grand coalition” can still carry on as the CDU and the SPD
have sufficient majority in the Bundestag. The SPD fully backs
Merkel’s refugee policy.
However, the Chancellor is under mounting pressure from
some influential members of the CDU as well as from the
party’s rank and file to change her course on refugees.
Meanwhile, Germany and Austria have agreed to improve the
coordination of refugees to avert the chaotic situation
existed in the Bavarian border town of Passau in the past few
days after thousands of them were transported there in a
number of buses from Austria.
The two sides agreed that from now on, refugees from
Austria will be taken to only five border crossings and from
there they will be sent to reception centres in Bavaria or in
other parts of Germany.