German Interior minister drops resignation threat over migration

The German interior minister says a compromise has been reached on Monday in a migration dispute that threatened Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.

European stock markets recovered Tuesday on easing political unrest in Germany, but shares in Swiss miner Glencore melted on news of a U.S. legal probe over its global activities.

The CSU is fighting state elections in Bavaria in October and, under pressure from the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), is seeking to burnish its own anti-refugee credentials in an attempt to win back voters.

According to summit conclusions, European Union member states will, on a voluntary basis, set up so-called “controlled centers” to host and transfer migrants that landed on European Union shores.

Although German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s last-minute compromise to screen migrants trying to enter Germany has not yet received necessary approval.

Amidst all the internecine fighting among conservatives, it has been easy to forget that there is also a third party involved: the Social Democrats.

However, according to das Bild, Seehofer called the meeting on Saturday evening an “ineffective conversation”.

It’s meant to dovetail with a migration pact reached by the bloc’s leaders last week under pressure from the CSU, which includes pledges by some European Union countries to take back asylum seekers rejected by Germany. Interior Minister and coalition government ally Horst Seehofer threatened to resign his post if Merkel didn’t budge.

Under the new policy, which is still pending approval of the Social Democrats, another party in Merkel’s delicate coalition, Germany would create so-called “transit centers” along the border.

It drew immediate fire from critics, such us Bernd Riexinger of the opposition far-left Die Linke party, who on Twitter slammed the plan for what he labelled “mass internment camps” and judged that “humanity got lost along the way”.

Ms Merkel has emerged from the row severely damaged. SPD leader Andrea Nahles said there’s still “a lot that needs to be discussed”.

He said he would travel to Vienna soon and had spoken to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz by phone.

“The security of our country begins on our borders”, Merkel conceded to reporters on Monday.

“The sum of all we’ve agreed is equivalent to what the CSU wants”, she said. Officials, he said, must also block refugees if they have already registered in another European country.

If Seehofer does step down, it is not immediately clear what effect the move would have on a three-week impasse between Merkel and her CSU partners, which has centered on his resolve to turn away some types of asylum-seekers at Germany’s borders.

In Monday’s deal, both sides agreed to set up closed “transit centres” – similar to existing facilities at airports – that would allow German authorities to speedily process applicants.

About 68,000 people applied for asylum in Germany in the first five months of this year, compared with a record of 745,500 in the whole of 2016.

But the European Union is divided over the proposal, as countries including Luxembourg and Ireland are loath to see USA tech giants head for the exit.