Divided EU leaders reach agreement on migration BLUE — EU Summit

CSU lawmaker Hans Michelbach told ARD television areas of the deal would be “difficult to implement” and that Ms Merkel would have to discuss it with CSU leader, Horst Seehofer, in the coming days.

It is not clear what effect Mr Seehofer’s resignation could have on Mrs Merkel’s government, which has looked increasingly precarious during the three-week standoff. “Her own party is really behind her”.

“We will welcome any outcome that leads to a more collaborative and harmonised approach to asylum, also one that has at its core and priority saving lives at sea”, Charlie Yaxley of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR told a Geneva briefing.

Alternatively it could break up the two parties’ decades-long partnership, depriving Merkel of her majority in parliament and pitching Germany into uncharted political waters.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview that leaders were working on “more Turkey-like agreements” that saw officials in Ankara stem the flow of migrants in exchange for aid.

TRT World’s Ira Spitzer has more from Berlin.

2017: A group of supporters hold placards of Chancellor Angela Merkel reading “We love you”.

Germany’s fragile government coalition faced a threat from its interior minister that he would close German borders after July 1 if the European Union did not agree to curb the flow of asylum-seekers.

Merkel and Seehofer had long battled over the right approach to migration, but seemed to reach an agreement after federal elections last year when the chancellor agreed to try and limit the number of refugees arriving in Germany each year to 200,000 – a policy that Seehofer had repeatedly demanded and Merkel had consistently rejected.

“It’s possible to begin a turnaround in migration today”, said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who took power a year ago in a coalition with a far-right party on an anti-immigration platform.

Her hardline interior minister, Horst Seehofer, had threatened to close Germany’s borders to migrants, sparking a dispute that some feared would bring down Merkel’s government.

Merkel, who has been in office since 2005, warned last week the issue of migration could decide the very future of the European Union itself.

It is hard to overstate the scope of German influence over European affairs during the Merkel era. Both Italy and Greece want other countries to share the burden. Even as the Obama administration and an array of economists called for looser policies, the Germans held firm.

Seehofer’s objections go far beyond the common European complaint about migrants as foreign freeloaders. Merkel will now have to strike bilateral deals with other European Union countries to decide how to implement the measures – agreements that will potentially be far trickier than the one made Friday morning. The ratio was lowest in Germany and Austria, with 53% and 56% against migration.

Yet the political landscape has shifted radically, not only in Germany, but also elsewhere in Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that “European cooperation enabled this”. Merkel said that while there is division among members, they are united in the need to reduce overall migration, stop smugglers and strengthen the EU’s external borders.

The SDU is key to Merkel’s coalition.

The deal follows weeks of diplomatic wrangling over migrant rescue ships, and which country should take them in.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been praised for standing up to President Donald Trump.

The document also outlined deals with 16 other countries to return already-registered migrants if they reached Germany.