Berlin: A scuffle over immigration has marred the first weeks in office of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fourth coalition, promising anything but smooth sailing in the years ahead for the loveless left-right alliance.
Conservatives among Merkel’s Christian Democrats are keen to restrict as heavily as possible so-called “family reunifications” that would allow some of the million-plus migrants and refugees who have arrived since 2015 to bring in relatives.
That has stirred the ire of Social Democrats (SPD), the reluctant junior partners who helped Merkel into office to end the longest period of post-election limbo in post-World War II German history.
In their painstakingly-negotiated coalition deal, the parties agreed that up to 1,000 people per month could enter Germany under family reunification, with only immediate relatives eligible.
New Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is eager to tighten the screws further, with a draft law that would prevent people dependent on social benefits from bringing in family members and further restrict which relations are eligible, including ruling out siblings.
Many people who arrived in Germany as refugees are yet to join the labor market, undergoing job training or language classes, and would therefore not qualify.
Seehofer is a former leader of the ultra-conservative CSU, the smaller Bavarian sister party of Merkel’s more centrist CDU.
He is keen to burnish his outfit’s anti-immigration credentials ahead of a state election later this year, when they will face a stiff challenge from anti-Islam, anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
“We don’t want an influx into the social system. That’s also how we’ve discussed this within the coalition,” he told Der Spiegel magazine’s Saturday edition.
Two years ago, Seehofer blasted Merkel’s 2015 decision to open Germany’s borders to refugees arriving in Europe via the so-called “Balkan route” from the Middle East, saying it had produced a “rule of injustice” in Europe’s most populous nation.
Arriving in his Berlin ministry after being ejected from the state premiership in prosperous Bavaria, he lost no time before stirring up controversy with a declaration that “Islam does not belong to Germany,” which is home to around four million Muslims.
Immigration row overshadows start of Merkel’s fourth term
Immigration row overshadows start of Merkel’s fourth term
- Conservatives among the Christian Democrats are keen to restrict so-called “family reunifications ” that would allow some of the migrants and refugees who have arrived since 2015 to bring in relatives.
- Many people who arrived in Germany as refugees have not yet joined the labor market and would therefore not qualify for the “family reunifications ” .
