- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
TEHRAN, June 17 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking talks with some EU member states on migrant policy before a leaders summit at the end of the month, a government spokesman said, in a last-ditch bid to avert a coalition crisis erupting this week.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The spokesman denied a report in Bild newspaper that Merkel was trying to arrange a special summit on migrant policy, saying such a meeting would be a matter for EU institutions.
"But of course the German government is having talks in this regard with several member states and the (European) Commission," government spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted.
EU states are deeply divided on how to deal with large numbers of people fleeing conflict, especially from the Middle East. The issue has come to a head in the last week with a new Italian government refusing to let a ship with hundreds of migrants dock at its ports. The ship arrived in Spain on Sunday.
Time for a deal is pressing for Merkel, at loggerheads with her conservative Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), who share power with her Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats in a loveless coalition.
In an extraordinary move, the CSU - facing a tough regional election in October - has threatened to defy her and on Monday go ahead with plans for Germany to send back migrants already registered in other EU states.
This unilateral approach, a reversal of her 2015 open-door policy, would undermine Merkel's authority and be a blow to the EU's Schengen open-border system.
Such a direct challenge to Merkel would force her to fire Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a Bavarian who has long been a thorn in her side on migrant policy.
There is even talk that the 70-year-old conservative parliamentary alliance between the CDU and CSU could collapse.
Source: Reuters
Your Comment