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Thread: German Conservatives Struggle to Agree on Stricter Asylum Rules

  1. #1

    German Conservatives Struggle to Agree on Stricter Asylum Rules

    German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has canceled the presentation on Tuesday of a policy package including stricter migration and asylum rules due to differences within Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition."The scheduled date for the presentation of the master plan has been postponed," the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

    "Some points still need to be agreed. A new date has not yet been determined."

    Mass daily Bild reported that Seehofer, a senior member of the Bavarian CSU sister party of Merkel's CDU, had to cancel the event due to differences with Merkel.

    Seehofer wants to allow German border authorities to immediately reject asylum seekers who have already been granted asylum in another European Union country.

    In addition, he wants border police to be able to immediately reject asylum seekers who have previously been deported from Germany, the Bild report said.

    A spokesman for the chancellery was not immediately available for comment.

    More at: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/ar...r-asylum-rules
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
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  3. #2
    Merkel is facing a rebellion from her hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who demands that German border police be given the right to turn back migrants without identity papers or who are already registered elsewhere in the European Union. The chancellor fears that such a move would be seen as further antagonizing already stretched nationalist tentions across the EU and be seen as Germany going it alone, hurting over-burdened frontline Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Greece, and has urged a negotiated EU response instead. Merkel, the longest-serving EU leader, called immigration "a litmus test for the future of Europe" on Wednesday - but the issue has now rapidly turned into a test of Merkel's own grip on power at home.
    The top-selling Bild daily argued that "if no agreement is reached, Angela Merkel must face a vote of confidence and every lawmaker must decide ... Keep going with Merkel's way or face an adventure called fresh elections."
    Meanwhile, Augsburger Allgemeine reported on Thursday that Seehofer’s CSU is considered breaking off their alliance with the Merkel’s CDU in the Bundestag. In other words, an outright rebellion within the government, ending the ruling coalition.
    The AA quoted an unnamed senior figure in the CSU who said “we aren’t far away from a split. It is touch and go for our united Bundestag faction.”


    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...er-immigration
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  4. #3
    Hardline ministers in Austria, Germany and Italy want to form an “axis of the willing” to combat illegal immigration. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced Wednesday in Berlin after talks with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
    Angela Merkel is trying to put together a deal for EU cooperation on placing asylum seekers but is locked in a feud with Seehofer that is threatening the stability of her coalition government. He has said that he and his Austrian and Italian counterparts, Herbert Kicks and Matteo Salvini have formed an alliance this week.
    Their cooperation will extend to “issues of security and terrorism”. Kurz’s country assumes the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1st and he welcomes “good cooperation that we want to develop between Rome, Vienna and Berlin”.
    Kurz went on to say, ”I think it marks very sensible cooperation that will contribute to reducing illegal migration to Europe. We believe an axis of the willing is needed to fight illegal migration.”

    More at: https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/06/ge...gainst-merkel/
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  5. #4
    It's looking increasingly likely that German Chancellor Angela Merkel may have attended her last G-7 conference.
    A day after the euro whipsawed on conflicting reports touting the collapse of Merkel's governing coalition, a lawmaker from Merkel's own party said the Chancellor could be out by the end of next week during an appearance on BBC World at One (via Express). On Friday, German media reported that Merkel's junior coalition partner, the CSU, had announced the end of its alliance with Merkel's CDU - though that report was quickly denied.


    German MP Kai Whittaker, a CDU member, said Merkel's clashes with Seehofer - who is demanding that German border police be given the right to turn back migrants without identity papers or who are already registered elsewhere in the European Union - are threatening to bring about "a new political situation. And probably a new chancellor."
    As Whittaker astutely points out, the political crisis stems from the fact that the issue of immigration has become "a power question". The AfD, which outperformed expectations during Germany's fall elections, owes its rise largely to its anti-asylum stance. And as the chaos builds, Whittaker explained that German lawmakers are largely in the dark about what is happening with the leadership.
    "We are in a serious situation because the question of the migration crisis evolved into a power question...the question is who is leading the Government? Is it Angela Merkel or is it Horst Seehofer? Everybody seems to be standing firm and that's the problem."
    [...]
    There is a master plan to solve the migration crisis, which consists of 63 ideas of Horst Seehofer.
    Wittaker also pointed out that Seehofer's clashes with Merkel could be linked to upcoming local elections in Bavaria, where the conservative party is concerned about retaining a majority.
    "This must have to do with the coming election in Bavaria because it is vital for the Conservatives to win an overall majority because that’s why they have a national importance."
    "This kind of has the potential to diminish the authority of her and Horst Seehofer and it could well be that at the end of next week we have a new situation. Probably a new Chancellor."
    Merkel has opposed what she sees as Seehofer's heavy handed approach toward immigration, and has held meetings with members of her party seeking support for her failing asylum policies, which brought more than 1 million migrants to Germany in 2015, leading to a spike in violent assaults. However, many of Merkel's allies are even demanding changes to her "open door" policy regarding migrants. Seehofer's plan would replace an existing EU rule, which would allow Germany to send the asylum-seekers back to the first EU state they entered.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-end-next-week
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  6. #5
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she will turn to France to help diffuse a domestic crisis over migration amid an increasing risk that the European Union may unravel unless its member states adopt a common policy.
    At a regular meeting of their joint Cabinets on Tuesday, Germany will seek the support of French President Emmanuel Macron to find a common EU response for managing an influx of refugees, Merkel said Saturday in a weekly podcast. The stakes for the EU are high, she said.


    A European solution “doesn’t convince me,” said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Soeder in a June 14 Bild Zeitung interview. The move would mean “the majority of asylum seekers who come to Europe make their way to Germany.”
    The joint cabinet meeting with France offers Merkel a chance to air proposals for revamping regional asylum policy ahead of a European Council meeting June 28-29. Merkel has asked the CSU to be patient, a request that the Bavarians have ignored.

    More at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/merke...121428489.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  7. #6
    The leader of Germany's center-left Social Democrats says the conservative governor of Bavaria is acting like a "bonsai Trump" amid a deepening spat within the government over its migration policy. Andrea Nahles, whose party is a junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition, said Friday that a unilateral decision by Germany to send some refugees back to neighboring countries would risk causing a split within the European Union.
    Nahles accused Bavarian governor Markus Soeder and his party colleague Horst Seehofer — Germany's interior minister — of "taking all of Germany and Europe hostage" by suggesting they'll send police to the border to turn back migrants who have registered as refugees in other European countries.

    More at: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06...Latest+-+Text)
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  8. #7
    As Chancellor Merkel's grip on power continues to look more and more fragile, Bild Zeitung reports that Germany’s Christian Social Union party will give her a two-week deadline to meet its demands for overhauling asylum policy.
    If true, the reports would would be an unprecedented challenge to Merkel's authority and risks plunging the nation further into chaos, as Der Spiegel pulls no punches in explaining: "The German question... How do we deal with migrants? Endangers Merkel's chancellorship."

    As Bloomberg reports, the executive of the Bavarian party - an ally in Merkel’s government - will pass a resolution Monday approving rebel Interior Minister Horst Seehofer’s plan to turn away more refugees at Germany’s borders, the Bild Zeitung reported, citing party aides. Merkel has two weeks to gain the support of EU partners or Seehofer will execute the order unilaterally, according to Bild.

    If the report is true, Seehofer’s ultimatum would be intolerable and “outrageous,” said lawmaker Ingrid Arndt-Brauer from the Social Democrats -- also in Merkel’s government -- on the phone on Sunday. “You cannot do that to the Chancellor - relations between Merkel and Seehofer would seem beyond repair.” The SPD backs Merkel’s stance on reforming asylum rules.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-beyond-repair
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  9. #8
    For almost 13 years as chancellor, Handeslblatt writes this morning, Angela Merkel managed to outmaneuver all rivals, schemers and plotters.
    "But her time could finally be up."
    Two of her Christian-Democratic predecessors, Konrad Adenauer and Ludwig Erhard, fell from power not after losing the electorate, but after losing the support of their own parliamentary bloc. That may now be Merkel’s fate, too.
    Today, the top brass of her party, the CDU, and its Bavarian frenemies, the CSU, are meeting separately in Berlin and Munich, to agree on a common course about the coming days and weeks, however chances of a deal appear increasingly remote: according to Handelsblatt, Horst Seehofer, the CSU’s boss, federal interior minister and perennial Merkel gadfly, told one newspaper that he "can’t work with that woman anymore."


    On Sunday, Seehofer struck a more conciliatory tone when he told Bild that "it is not in the CSU's interest to topple the chancellor, to dissolve the CDU-CSU union or to break up the coalition" adding that "we just want to finally have a sustainable solution to send refugees back to the borders."
    Which brings us to Monday, when Seehofer's CSU met on Monday to decide which course to take. As the Local de reported, he had the nuclear option of seeking approval to shut Germany's borders immediately in defiance of Merkel, or the less aggressive choice of giving her an ultimatum of two weeks to sort out a deal with other EU nations.
    Signalling that he is leaning towards the latter option, Seehofer wrote in a column in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that "it is essential that the EU summit takes a decision at the end of June. "The situation is serious but still solvable," he wrote. Of course, whichever option he chooses, the ball will land in Merkel's court.
    * * *
    Then, moments ago, DPA reported that Seehofer indeed gave Merkel a two week ultimatum until the end of June to agree Europe-wide migration rules. After the deadline, if Merkel is unable to get EU countries to approve a solution within the deadline, comprehensive refusals of migrants at borders will begin, which will ultimately begin a chain reaction which will likely end will the collapse of Merkel's government, and the end of her political career.
    To be sure, having been given a two-week ultimatum, Merkel now faces the Herculean challenge of persuading EU governments to sign up to a common plan on the migrants.
    Good luck with that: central and eastern EU nations such as Hungary and Poland have either refused outright or resisted taking in refugees under an EU quota system that has essentially floundered. A populist-far right government in place in Italy, as well as the conservative-far right in power in neighbouring Austria, have also taken an uncompromising stance on immigration.
    Meanwhile, despite howls of protests from aid groups and even the United Nations, Rome has banned rescue vessels carrying migrants from docking.
    * * *
    What are the next immediate catalysts? Merkel's talks on Monday evening with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte could prove crucial, if she is to have any chance of finding concordance in Brussels. Then, on Tuesday, Merkel will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron.
    Berlin is also reportedly preparing to call a meeting between Merkel and the leaders of several EU frontline nations in the migrant crisis ahead of the Brussels summit.
    Underlining the unenviable task ahead for Merkel, Welt daily said "it would be almost a miracle if she emerges a winner from the next EU summit."
    Which is why, one month from today, Germany may be faced with a summer of discontent: not only does it now look increasingly unlikely that the German team will not play in the July 15 World Cup final (if its game against Mexico was any indication of what to expect), but it is increasingly likely that Angela Merkel will be absent at the final game as well.
    In other news, we can't wait until this latest European scandal resulting from Merkel's own "progressive" politics and liberal vision, in no small part influenced by George Soros and his Open Society ideals, is blamed on Putin too.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...week-ultimatum
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  11. #9
    With her coalition government bitterly split over the migration issue, Angela Merkel is ready to work jointly with Italy to stem the tide of refugees flowing into Europe.
    “We want to support Italy’s desire for solidarity, and also hope that Germany receives understanding when it comes to European solidarity on the question of migration,” Merkel said when meeting Italy’s new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in Berlin on Monday.
    The two agreed to beef up the EU’s external border police, Frontex, and cooperate with international organizations to deal with the root causes of migration in Africa and the Middle East.

    Merkel and Conte also agreed that people seeking asylum in Europe should have their applications processed in their own or transit countries before they are allowed to enter the EU.

    More at: https://www.infowars.com/merkel-pled...amid-pressure/
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  12. #10
    Europe is about to crackdown on the migrant wave unleashed by Angela Merkel (and her various unknown progressive advisors, which some have speculated includes George Soros' Open Society) in 2015 with Germany's "Open Door" policy, and on Sunday countries including France, Germany, Italy, Austria and other EU states will meet to try to end a deadlock on migration policy which has brought to a head bitter political divisions in the bloc, and has resulted in Brexit in the UK, a wave of nationalist governments in Central and Eastern Europe, and the first openly populist government in Italy in decades. Actually, scratch that: according to Reuters we already know what will be decided - a full-blown crackdown on migration, just in time to save Angela Merkel's job who was recently handed a 2 week ultimatum to resolve Germany immigration troubles by her coalition partner, the CSU.

    • EU LEADERS TO AGREE ON SUNDAY IT IS "CRUCIAL TO FURTHER REDUCE ILLEGAL MIGRATION TO EUROPE AS WELL AS SECONDARY MOVEMENTS" INSIDE EU - DRAFT STATEMENT

    The official purpose of Sunday's meeting, Reuters writes, is to explore how to prevent migrants from moving around the European Union after claiming asylum in one of the Mediterranean states of arrival, although those states now exclude Italy, which following the League/5-Star government has made it clear it will no longer accept immigrants.
    Such secondary movements are illegal under EU law but have been widespread since immigration to Europe peaked in 2015, when more than a million refugees and migrants arrived from the Middle East and Africa. More importantly, the bloc has since been bitterly at odds over how to share out the responsibility of taking care of them.
    As a result, Sunday’s meeting will seek to avert a possible clash on the issue at a June 28-29 EU summit, where leaders will try to agree a joint migration policy.
    Some states, such as Austria, are already bracing for the worse, and in advance of failing to reach common ground, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he would push on Sunday for rapid action on migration, and suggested Austria might go it alone on creating asylum centres outside the European Union if the deadlock continued for months.
    Of course, if there is indeed no deal by June 29, Merkel's government could no longer exist come July 1: Horst Seehofer, CSU leader and Germany’s interior minister, is one of the most outspoken voices behind the migration initiative; the German wants to turn away migrants who have already registered in other EU states, even as Merkel opposes any unilateral move to reverse her 2015 open-door policy and undermine her authority.
    That, however, is no longer an option:
    "We can no longer look on as this refugee tourism across Europe happens," Bavaria’s CSU interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
    * * *


    The EU summit’s draft joint statement, seen by Reuters, called for more work to combat secondary movements. It also proposed looking into creating “regional disembarkation platforms” outside of the EU where asylum requests would be assessed before claimants get to Europe.
    In typical fashion, the always outspoken Hungarian regime meanwhile approved a package of bills that criminalizes some help given to illegal immigrants, defying the EU and human rights groups who have called the measure arbitrary and vague.
    And speaking of minors at the border, Denmark and Norway said they were working on creating a centre in Kabul where unaccompanied Afghan minors who have been denied asylum can be sent back, even though the U.N.'s Children’s Fund UNICEF said minors should not be returned to Afghanistan as security had worsened there.

    Shockingly, there has been no mass media outrage - or even mention - of the Scandinavian countries' decision.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...gal-immigrants
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  13. #11
    With just over a week left on Angela Merkel's CSU ultimatum to resolve the German "refugee" problem in a manner that is satisfactory to her populist coalition partner Horst Seehofer (and who famously said recently that he "can’t work with that woman anymore") and that sees an EU agreement that sends migrants back to their originating European nations, something which in light of recent Italian populist developments is impossible and effectively guarantees that Merkel will be unsuccessful, on Friday morning Spiegel reported that the next step for Chancellor Merkel now seems inevitable, and that Germany's SPD party is preparing for new elections, one assumes on the belief that the Merkel coalition government will collapse.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ns-euro-slides
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  14. #12
    As Reuters reports, Merkel played down expectations of any major breakthrough at hastily-arranged talks among EU leaders on Sunday on the migration dispute dividing Europe. Plans for the emergency meeting, before a full EU summit at the end of next week, were thrown into chaos on Thursday when Italy’s new prime minister said a draft accord on migration had been withdrawn because of a clash with Merkel.
    The German chancellor is under pressure to get EU leaders at the main June 28-29 summit to agree to share out migrants more evenly to placate her conservative allies, Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU). But Italy and others are very reluctant.
    Initially expected to involve eight EU leaders, the Sunday talks will now bring together at least 17, according to the latest count by officials in Brussels.
    “The meeting on Sunday is a consultation and working meeting at which there will be no concluding statement,” Merkel told reporters in Beirut with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday. “It is an initial exchange with interested member states.” She said conditions in Syria were not yet right for refugees to return. Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrians and others since 2014, and migration policy is threatening her ruling coalition.
    If no “satisfactory” deal is achieved at next week’s summit, German Interior Minister and CSU chief Horst Seehofer has threatened to defy Merkel and turn people away at the German border who have applied for asylum in other EU states.
    However, with Italy now taking a hardline approach and refusing to accept any more migrants, Europe finds itself in migrant chaos with no way out, one spawned by Merkel's own disastrous 2015 "open door" policy, and absent a "Merkel Miracle" over the next week, the chancellor may be out of a job as soon as early July, with Germany facing new elections potentially as soon as September, an outcome which the SPD is already actively preparing for.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-reform-europe
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  15. #13
    THE European Union’s desperate bid to save itself from a populist uprising by overhauling its immigration policies have run into trouble before they have even got the go ahead.

    The European Commission announced a plan to set up migrant screening centres on African soil to try and reduce the number of people making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
    But Dimitri’s Avramopoulos, the European Commissioner for migration, admitted that Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia had not been consulted about the plans and that no official proposals had been lodged with them.
    Tahar Cherif, the Tunisian Ambassador to the EU said: “The proposal was put to the head of our government a few months ago during a visit to Germany, it was also asked by Italy and the answer is clear: no!”

    More at: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...salvini-africa
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  16. #14
    Italy on Saturday said “arrogant” France risked becoming its “No.1 enemy” on migration issues, a day before European leaders convene in Brussels for a hastily arranged meeting on the divisive topic.

    In answer to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said migration flows towards Europe had reduced compared with a few years ago, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said Macron’s words showed he was out of touch.
    “Italy indeed faces a migration emergency and it’s partly because France keeps pushing back people at the border. Macron risks making his country Italy’s No.1 enemy on this emergency,” Di Maio wrote on his Facebook page.
    Macron said European cooperation had managed to cut migration flows by close to 80 percent and problems stemmed from “secondary” movements of migrants within Europe.
    “The reality is that Europe is not experiencing a migration crisis of the same magnitude as the one it experienced in 2015,” the French president said.
    “A country like Italy has not at all the same migratory pressure as last year. ... The crisis we are experiencing today in Europe is a political crisis.”
    But Italy’s Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said his country had faced 650,000 arrivals by sea over the past four years, 430,000 asylum requests and the hosting of 170,000 “alleged refugees” for an overall cost of more than 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion).
    “If for the arrogant President Macron this is not a problem, we invite him to stop insulting and to show instead some concrete generosity by opening up France’s many ports and letting children, men and women through at Ventimiglia,” he said in a statement, referring to the northeastern Italian town at the border with France.
    Macron also said France favoured financial sanctions for EU countries that refuse migrants with proven asylum status.
    “You can’t have countries that massively benefit from the solidarity of the European Union and that massively voice their national selfishness when it comes to migrant issues,” he added, in a clear hint to Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, which oppose the EU relocation scheme for asylum seekers.

    More at: https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN1JJ0M2
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  17. #15
    EU government officials in Brussels said that if Merkel gives in to the demands of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union party to turn away refugees already registered in other EU countries at the border, then the entire Schengen Area of visafree travel would be at risk of collapse. Making matters worse, plans for the emergency meeting were thrown into chaos on Thursday when Italy’s new prime minister declared that a draft accord on migration had been withdrawn because of a clash with Merkel, according to Reuters.
    “This is a political crisis we are going through,” French President Emmanuel Macron said as he entered Sunday’s meeting. “Let’s seek efficacy because we are guarantors of the cohesion of our countries and of our people" hinting that unless a solution is found, Europe may splinter.
    * * *
    Unfortunately talking efficacy may not be enough: adding to Merkel's woes, Italy has said it won’t agree on a deal to limit flows towards Germany unless there’s an agreement to spread the burden of migration. But, as Bloomberg notes, the so-called Visegrad countries of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, as well Austria, won’t sign off to any revamp of common rules that would force them to receive refugees from frontier countries. This effectively means that no European nation wants to accept any more migrants.
    “We are here to present an Italian proposal” for reforming the so-called Dublin rules for the allocation of asylum-seekers, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said before Sunday’s meeting. “We want to solve the problem in a structural manner.”
    That however won't happen today: confirming Europe's growing rift, the four Visegrad leaders didn’t join Sunday’s meeting. Only 16 nations confirmed participation ahead of the gathering, while EU President Donald Tusk, who normally presides over gatherings of leaders, has refused to attend.
    * * *
    But the biggest clash today will be between Germany and Italy.
    In an interview with Spiegel magazine, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini gave a foretaste of the challenge Merkel faces in clinching a deal: “In a year it will be decided if a united Europe still exists or not.” He also made it clear that Italy was not ready to take in even a single migrant more. Italy has taken in 650,000 boat migrants in the last five years, and objects to the German proposal that asylum seekers should be returned to the EU country they first registered in.
    Arriving at the Sunday summit, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel tried to tone down the implications of its outcome for Merkel: "This is not about the survival of a chancellor. It’s about finding a solution, and I hope a common one, for a migration and asylum policy in Europe. We need that.”
    What he failed to add is that finding a "solution" is explicitly tied to the survival of the chancellor, and one right now appears improbable. As Bloomberg notes, while the pace of arrivals has dropped sharply compared with previous years, the hardening rhetoric from Italy’s populist coalition and right-wing governments including Austria’s has soured relations among the bloc’s members.
    * * *
    And then there is Merkel's domestic conflict: the leader of the CSU parliamentary group, Alexander Dobrindt, said it could not be ruled out that migration might break up the historic alliance between his party and the CDU.
    “I have always believed in the common destiny of the CDU and CSU,” he told Spiegel magazine. “But it is unclear at the moment if a common path for action and positions can be found.”
    To stave off any coalition crisis, Merkel is pushing other EU leaders towards more measures to stem immigration to the bloc and restrict movement of those migrants who make it there. United Nations refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi on Friday urged them to “find a new and united approach” to migration and asylum, saying it was achievable.
    However, defying his optimism, Bulgaria said it would argue at the weekend talks for the EU’s external borders to be shut completely to migrants and centers for war refugees set up outside its territory.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ncy-eu-meeting
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  18. #16
    In our preview of Sunday's now-concluded emergency EU meeting on refugee policy which the FT dubbed "The summit to save Merkel", we said that the German chancellor fate could be decided as soon as today should a newly populist Italy present a set of insurmountable demands on how to deal with Europe's migrant problem. And judging by the opening salvo, the odds of Merkel's political career just slumped after Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conti demanded the EU rip up its system for dealing with migrants, laying bare seemingly insurmountable divisions in the bloc over migration policy.
    The hastily-gathered meeting, a segue to the formal EU summit scheduled for June 28 in which migration will be the key topic, was requested by Berlin as a chance for Ms Merkel to press for stronger powers for countries to send back asylum seekers already registered in another EU country: a key condition in an ultimatum that was handed to Merkel last week and which threatens her tenure as chancellor.
    In other words, Merkel was testing the water to see how much of a political case she can formally make at the international level on Thursday, one that supposedly saves her career domestically.
    She was, however, stunned after the Italian prime instead called for "radical change" in the EU’s so-called Dublin principle that makes frontline countries such as Italy responsible for dealing with asylum claims and allows for registered asylum seekers that move on to another country to be sent back to the state they landed in.


    As the FT first reported, in an eight-point plan presented to leaders on Sunday, Conte called for “severing” the link between the “safe port of disembarkation” and the “competency to examine asylum rights”.
    The reason why is simple: Italy, along with most other peripheral European nations, tends to be on the short-end of that trade, as Rome ends up stuck with any migrants that cross the Mediterranean to arrive in Italy.
    At the moment, when migrants arrive on Italian soil only Italian authorities can process their asylum application. Rome wants this to be broadened to other EU countries, a step that would in effect end a 25-year system for handling asylum claims.
    “Whoever arrives in Italy, arrives in Europe,” the document reportedly said adding that “we must reaffirm responsibility and solidarity. Schengen is at stake,” referring to the possibility that border-free movement across some EU countries could be threatened if no deal is reached.
    Needless to say, Italy's initial negotiating positions, assuming there is space for leeway, is a disaster for Merkel, who is facing precisely the opposite demand from her coalition partner, Horse Seehofer of the CSU, who has demanded that Germany push back more migrants to their original port of call, i.e. Italy.
    The emergency meeting took place as Europe's existing migrant system was is in chaos, after Italy refused to accept any more refugees: on Sunday, more than 350 migrants were stranded in the Mediterranean Sea after being rescued by Mission Lifeline, a German charity. Lifeline’s own vessel carrying 239 people, was left drifting off Malta, after Italian authorities this weekend insisted it should dock there but authorities in Valletta refused. Meanwhile a Danish cargo ship, the Alexander Maersk, which had picked up 113 migrants with help from Lifeline personnel, was outside the Sicilian harbour of Pozzallo, having been left there overnight without a chance to dock.
    There was more bad news for Merkel.
    Conte also proposed that “protection centres” for processing asylum claims should be set up in other EU countries - such as Germany - as “hotspots” to avoid overcrowding in frontline states - such as Italy. France and Spain have backed a similar plan but the idea has been criticised by the Netherlands.
    And just to make sure the complexity of the problem facing Merkel is truly off the charts, today's discussions did not involve the four Visegrad countries — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic — who have all resisted calls from western member states to accept refugee quotas. This assures sheer chaos during Thursday's refugee summit, where a joint resolution is virtually impossible. To be sure, the four European nations may reach a compromise, but only if Germany promises more funding, which is likely a non-starter for Merkel's political allies.
    That said, there was a glimmer of hope for a solution: diplomats pointed to some signs of emerging consensus on external border policy, with a number of member states backing plans to take migrants rescued at sea to “processing centres” in north Africa and other non-EU countries where they could have their asylum claims reviewed.
    In other words, migrants picked up from Libya would be processed... in Libya.
    The policy, which non-governmental organisations warn would face major legal and practical hurdles, is designed to discourage migrants from making perilous sea journeys.
    Of course, such a policy would also result in the immediate collapse of Europe's progressive, liberal facade, and be seen as a momentous victory for populist forces across Europe, whether or not Merkel keeps her job.
    And while hopes of an agreement on Thursday are sinking fast, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said he hoped EU leaders would use the meeting to thrash out their differences.
    "I hope that at the end of today the steam is off, people discussed their controversies so we can reach a deal."
    Unfortunately for Merkel and Brussels, that is one particular hope that will certainly need rescuing in the rising sea of Europe's populist backlash against globalism, the ironic result of Merkel's own actions.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...migrant-system
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  20. #17
    Divisions in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc have weakened public support for her "grand coalition" and pushed the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to its highest ratings, a poll published on Sunday showed.The poll conducted by Emnid for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed Merkel's bloc at 31 percent, down two percentage points from the previous poll. The AfD added one percentage point to reach 16 percent, its highest rating in an Emnid poll.
    The center-left Social Democrats, junior partner in the ruling coalition, remained unchanged at 18 percent.


    Markus Soeder, a top CSU leader and Bavaria's premier, plans to carry out the electoral campaign in Bavaria without involving Merkel, a first in the 70-year history of the CSU, according to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
    But Soeder has invited Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose ruling coalition includes the far-right FPO party, to participate in Bavarian election events, the newspaper said.

    More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/migration...130714990.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  21. #18
    Austria’s Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, has threatened to shut down its border with Germany if the country tries to turn away migrants at its southern border.
    “We would be ready and do everything necessary to protect our borders,” Kurz told German media.
    “That would mean securing the border on the Brenner (pass) and other locations.”
    His comments come after German Interior Minister, Horst Seehofer, revealed his desire to refuse migrants entry into Germany if they had already passed through another member state.
    The 63-point-plan was kicked into the long grass after a reported row with chancellor Angela Merkel.
    Seehofer vowed to close the border if Merkel couldn’t come up with a viable solution by the end of the month.
    Later today, up to 1,000 police officers and specialist border agents will practice closing off the country’s borders.
    Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said the country must “be prepared for the case that in a sudden large migratory flow, [because] border protection measures in friendly countries no longer help.”
    The exercise is designed to show “that we are serious,” according to the Minister.
    “There will be no registration and waving through with us, but a real defensive attitude.
    “Our policemen will be standing so close to the Slovenian border that any application for asylum there will be a case for the Slovenians.”

    https://www.westmonster.com/austrias...away-migrants/
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  22. #19
    Days after Austria threatened to reinstate border checks, Austrian forces conducted border-security exercises on Monday in the border town of Spielfeld in preparation for a wave of 80,000 migrants expected to travel through the new "Balkan route" from Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia to Western and Central Europe.

    "A state which can't protect its borders when needed loses its credibility," said Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, who was in charge of the exercise along with Defence Minister Mario Kunasek. Over 500 Austrian policemen and 220 soldiers, including those in the new "Puma" unit took part in the drills, which included a display of "Black Hawk" helicopters and simulated border unrest in which cadets played unruly migrants.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...situation-goes
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  23. #20
    In an interview with German broadcaster ARD, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who has been involved in a spat with Chancellor Angela Merkel over asylum policies, has expressed optimism they can reach a compromise over migration.
    Speaking with ARD, Seehofer, who’s also the head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) party, said that he and Merkel were trying to overcome their differences and find a satisfying solution to the migration issue.
    “I am very optimistic that we will solve it. I can’t guarantee it, but a firm will is there,” he told the broadcaster.
    Seehofer also said that his party was not planning to force the chancellor to resign, neither was it trying to break up the alliance between the CSU and Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).


    Seehofer elaborated that after the two-day EU summit is over, Merkel would call her coalition partners to discuss the results of the meeting, and then he would speak with her again on June 30.
    On Sunday, the Bavarian conservatives will meet to learn about any progress made at the summit and then decide whether to introduce Seehofer’s “master plan.”
    When asked if he could leave his office in light of speculations that Merkel could fire him if he unilaterally implemented his plans, Seehofer replied, “There are situations in politics where one has a conviction, and then that conviction is more important than the office.”
    Speaking with the German newspaper Sueddeutschen Zeitung ahead of the EU summit, Seehofer said that if the meeting failed to resolve the current row over migration, he would take action.
    “My position is clear: if the EU summit finds no suitable solution, we will turn the asylum seekers, registered in other EU countries away,” he said, at the same time blasting Merkel's stance on the issue, "The Chancellor's Office has turned a mosquito into an elephant, and it’s extremely unusual to threaten the chairman of its coalition partner with competence division. We will not put up with that."
    Last week, he told the newspaper Passauer Neuer Presse that if Merkel sacked him it would be the first time that “looking after and taking care of the security and order of the country is the reason given for firing a minister.”
    "I am the leader of the CSU, one of the three coalition parties, and act with the full support of my party. If the chancellery is not satisfied with the interior minister's work, then the coalition should end," he said.

    More at: https://europe.infowars.com/german-m...o-oust-merkel/
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  24. #21
    On Sunday the Christian Social Union (CSU) are set to meet to vote on whether to back Horst Seehofer in his plan to turn asylum seekers back at the German border. If Seehofer follows through, the move will have incalculable consequences for German politics.

    What is the problem?

    Germany's conservative parties are a little like two crime families who work together as long as one stays off the other's turf. This has worked out pretty well over several decades as the CSU have sat in power in Munich, while the CDU dominated politics on the federal level.
    There were unwritten rules to their collaboration though. Whereas the mafia (at least in the films) drew a line at bringing drugs into the country, the unspoken code of German conservative politics was: no immigrants (or at least, not too many).
    When Angela Merkel decided not to close the borders as thousands of refugees crossed the border in 2015 she broke this rule. Ever since then the ageing boss of the CSU, Horst Seehofer, has been seething. Throw into the mix a hot-headed upstart who is challenging Seehofer's grip on power in the CSU and you not only have the ingredients for a ropy Hollywood movie, but also for real-life German politics.
    Now Interior Minister, Seehofer has loudly declared that Germany has been too soft in applying EU law on asylum seekers. He was set to publish an “asylum masterplan” a little over two weeks ago, which would have given him the power to stop migrants coming into the country.
    But Merkel bluntly rejected the proposal.
    Ever since then conservative politics in Germany has been in a state of meltdown. Seehofer claims he can't understand why Merkel rejects what he describes as a technicality, while Seehofer has been accused of putting Bavaria's interests above those of Germany and Europe.
    And with state elections coming up in Bavaria in the autumn, there is every reason to believe that Seehofer and the young upstart Marcus Söder aren't thinking about much else other than what goes on inside their own territory.
    The upshot of the controversy was that Seehofer gave Merkel two weeks to find a deal on migrants with other EU countries, otherwise he would shut the border whether she liked it or not.
    If he goes ahead, decades of peace between the conservative clans will come to an end. Seehofer will force Merkel to fire him and their Bundestag alliance will be over. A pitched battle for power will commence in the build up to Bavaria's autumn elections. Things could get very messy.
    Time is up

    Seehofer's deadline is up this Monday. On Sunday, the most important members of the CSU will come together in Munich to discuss what steps they'll take next.
    In the meantime, Merkel has been wringing every last inch of guile out of her political neckerchief in an attempt to get European deals signed that stave off the threat of a rebellion from down south.
    The first success was announced early on Friday morning when she managed to secure a surprise agreement between the 28 EU member states on migration.
    The states agreed to set up closed migrant centres, which would be hosted on a voluntary basis. People rejected for asylum would “be returned” from these centres, while genuine refugees would be taken in by states on a voluntary basis.
    But the agreement was thin on the ground on details on the crunch issue for Seehofer, so-called “secondary migration”, a phrase which refers to migrants moving around within the EU. The agreement only contains the vague statement that “member states should call on all necessary internal lawful and administrative processes in order to prevent such movements, and should collaborate closely on this issue.”
    Then later in the day Merkel could announce bilateral deals with Spain and Greece, committing them to taking migrants who German border police detain at the border. The big one, Italy, remained elusive, though. Most asylum seekers who reach Europe come through Italy - and Merkel has been unable to get Rome to commit to a bilateral deal.
    So will Seehofer pull the trigger?

    One fundamental reason why the CSU have been so agitated is that another organization has been aggressively muscling in on their patch. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) have managed to be more populist, more anti-immigrant and more reactionary than the Bavarians - and in doing so have stolen a whole heap of business from Seehofer and his gang.
    Polling shows that the AfD are on course to win 14 percent of the vote in Bayern, a result which will drag the all-mighty CSU down to their worst score since the 1950s. The days of absolute power will be over.
    So the temptation is clearly there: pull the trigger and show the Bavarian beer halls that you don't take orders from Berlin.
    If only it were that simple, though. Were Seehofer to close the border to migrants, thus pulling down the government and ending the alliance with the CDU, Merkel's party would swiftly move onto his patch.
    And polling shows that many Bavarians are secretly crying out for freedom from the yoke of one-party rule.
    A poll released on Friday by Forsa showed that 54 percent of Bavarians who voted CSU at the last election would swap to the CDU if they had the choice. That poll suggested that the CDU would win 33 percent of the vote in a Bavarian state election.
    Meanwhile well over a third of Bavarians told Forsa that the CSU are the single biggest problem in their state, above the number who said refugees are Bavaria's biggest headache.
    Meanwhile a powerful alliance of business leaders has closed rank behind the Chancellor.
    The country's four most influential industry associations on Friday released a common statement which denounced Seehofer in no uncertain terms.
    “What we need now is a stable and resolute government that works together with its European partners constructively and calmly,” the statement read. “The German economy is convinced that acting only out of national interest will do more harm than good.”
    So will Seehofer close the border and risk an all out battle for power in Bavaria? Only he knows that - and on Friday he was staying silent. A spokesperson said that he was refusing to comment on the EU migration summit. He would wait instead to speak to Merkel in person.



    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ics-we-know-it
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  25. #22
    Party sources told news agency AFP Germany’s interior Minister Horst Seehofer has offered to step down after a day of talks with the German Chancellor over a European Union agreement on limiting immigration.
    Mr Seehofer offered to resign as both minister and as chairman of Bavaria's Christian Social Union at a closed meeting of the party's presidency, party sources said on Sunday.
    AFP tweeted: “#BREAKING German interior minister Horst Seehofer resigns in migration showdown with Chancellor Merkel, party sources tell AFP.”
    The news comes after Mr Seehofer, head of the German Chancellor’s Bavarian allies, said on Sunday he saw no alternative to rejecting some migrants at Germany’s border, a party source said.

    Mr Seehofer, CSU’s chairman, told party colleagues in Munich that turning away migrants at the border - opposed by Mrs Merkel - was the country’s only option, and a discussion with the German Chancellor late Saturday had been fruitless, a party source said.
    And it was reported that Mr Seehofer was planning to give a statement to CSU leaders as he is worried the matter is damaging his “credibility”.

    More at: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...news-migration
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  26. #23
    No statement from Merkel tonight (contrary to earlier reports) however Seehofer did speak to reporters and said that he offered to quit as German interior minister, and that he wants to avoid Merkel government collapse. He also added that he will stay in politics if Angela Merkel’s CDU backs down in the two parties’ deadlock over migration, DPA reports.
    * * *


    However, this is where things get complicated because dpa adds that CSU caucus chief Alexander Dobrindt opposes the resignation and will not accept it, putting Germany at a political impasse and potentially in a political crisis in which the CDU and CSU alliance may now break. According to N-tv the meeting of the CSU governing body is now suspended.
    If Seehofer does resign, it is unclear whether the CSU would seek to remain in coalition with Merkel's CDU and offer a replacement interior minister. Alternatively, it could break up the two parties' decades-long alliance, effectively depriving Merkel of her majority in parliament and pitching Germany into uncharted political waters.
    According to Spiegel editor Melanie Amann, Seehofer sees few options for the CSU: Either to stand firm on the immigration dispute and risk undermining the ruling coalition, or to back down and damage the party’s credibility, reports Spiegel editor Melanie Amann. The third option, offering to leave his post, was possibly in an attempt to boost party members' support of his strategy.
    Earlier, Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder, a leader of the hard-line faction, told the closed-door meeting that the CSU doesn’t want to bring down Merkel’s government but will stand up for what is right, dpa reported.
    What happens next is up to the CSU, which faces a stark choice: if it does not want to lose in the Bavarian-election this coming October, it needs to confront Merkel on the migrant crisis, or risk losing even more votes to the AdF as described below.



    The big danger for the CSU is that if it is seen as caving too far, it may lose even more support to Germany's the anti-refugee, anti-Islam phenomenon, the AfD, which succeeded in entering Federal parliament for the first time after the last German elections, at the expense of establishment parties. Opinion polls point to the AfD making a similarly spectacular entrance to Bavaria's parliament in October.
    The big problem for Seehofer is that weeks of "Merkel-bashing" have failed to help the CSU, as a Forsa poll last week showed around 68% of Bavarians backed Merkel's quest for a Europe-wide answer to migration rather than Germany going it alone.


    Finally, putting it all together is the following twitter thread from Lars Pelleniat laying out the various possible outcomes:
    In Germany many call #Seehofer "Drehofer"(Turning-Hofer, for talking right, but later following #Merkel).
    But if Seehofer turns again, his #CSU-party will get a bloody nose in the #Bavarian #election in October & lose many votes to the #AfD!#AsylStreit #CDU #CSU
    — Lars Pellinat (@Lars9596) July 1, 2018
    2. Other certainties: 5. #Merkel kept on dreaming about an "European solution" to the #migrant-crisis, but as the #EUSummit clearly shows a #EU-consensus only (largely) exist AGAINST Merkels "#refugee-policy". An #AxisOfTheWilling with #Greece & #Spain - That's it!
    — Lars Pellinat (@Lars9596) July 1, 2018
    4. I don't yet see that the #CSU will break away (just too big a step), but the pressure on #Merkel will increase - In the past year by year, now week by week!
    If #CSU/#CDU are smart (Issue = Too many Yes-Men) they get rid of her. If Merkel was smart she would resign. #Asylstreit
    — Lars Pellinat (@Lars9596) July 1, 2018
    6. I think that will be the FINAL CHAPTER of #Merkeldaemmerung: In order to not drop close to 20% (now 31%, was over 40% once) the #CDU will suddenly discover the failings of former Saint #Merkel and send her packing!
    — Lars Pellinat (@Lars9596) July 1, 2018
    7. The damage #Merkel has done to her party (#CDU no longer a Volkspartei that can get near half of the vote), #Germany (burdened with ill-trained #migrants, who will be a burden on the benefits-systems & increase #crime) and #Europe (helped #Brexit, the #NewRight) will remain.
    — Lars Pellinat (@Lars9596) July 1, 2018




    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...reaker-emerges
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  27. #24
    CSU leaders, divided over how to face down a challenge from the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) in October’s regional election, were trying to persuade Seehofer to change his mind about resigning, the officials said.

    More at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-no...KBN1JR1LY?il=0
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  29. #25
    After a torrid for German politics 24 hours, in which CSU leader and German interior minister Horst Seehofer first offered to resign, only to withdraw his offer shortly after and replace it with another ultimatum for Merkel, the whole world was on edge to see if Merkel and Seehofer would have a final falling out over Germany's refugee situation, or if they would somehow kiss and make up in the 11th hour (and 59th minute).
    The answer, it turns out, was the latter and moments ago Seehofer said that he would not resign as the migration clash with Merkel had been resolved, and that the CSU and CDU had reached a "clear agreement", signaling an end to a coalition split that risked bringing down Merkel's government.
    “We’ve reached a clear agreement on how we can stop illegal migration in the future on the border between Germany and Austria,” Seehofer told reporters after more than four hours of last-ditch talks on Monday in Berlin. He now plans to stay on in his cabinet post. "I am glad that this agreement has been reached. It has once again become clear that it is worth fighting for a conviction. And what follows now is a very sustainable and clear agreement for the future. The agreement meets my expectations on all three points," Seehofer added.
    Merkel also confirmed that a "good compromise" was reached, with her party's chairwoman, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, saying the deal will prevent migrants registered elsewhere from entering Germany. The German chancellor also said that transit centers will be established in Germany which will return migrants to the European countries from which they arrived.
    “I think after a tough struggle and some difficult days we’ve found a really good compromise,” Merkel told reporters in a statement at her party’s headquarters. She said the deal establishes “transit centers” for asylum seekers that’s in line with the “spirit of partnership” across the European Union. The chancellor added that as a result of the deal, will see German migration policy working at both the EU and national levels.
    According to the agreement, Germany will set up transit centers at the German border, a move which Merkel called a "good compromise." New migrants will be assigned to the transit centers, and if they are found to have been registered in other EU-countries (or asked for asylum in these countries), they will be sent back, which however will require bilateral agreements between Germany and those countries, such as the ones Berlin already has in place between Greece and Spain.
    Germany will now have to reach an agreement with France and especially Italy, which has refused to participation in this kind of arrangement, while Central and Eastern European countries such as Hungary and Austria have already closed their borders to any new migrants.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...erkel-resolved
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  30. #26
    Angela Merkel’s fight to secure her shaky coalition faced a new hurdle on Tuesday as the German chancellor moved to persuade her center-left allies to back tighter immigration rules. After two weeks of wrangling that brought her government close to a collapse, the German leader and her rebellious interior minister reached a compromise late on Monday on measures that would make it easier for police to expel some migrants who turn up at Germany’s southern border.
    Now Ms. Merkel needs to bring the Social Democrats on board.
    After a 2½-hour meeting, leaders of the coalition parties broke off talks without an agreement but would meet again on Thursday, party officials said.
    “We’re not quite there yet,” SPD Chairwoman Andreas Nahles told reporters after what she said had been “intense discussions.”

    More at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/merkels...efModule=nwsrl
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  31. #27
    Austria said Tuesday it is ready to implement unspecified border protections if Germany enacts a set of stricter immigration controls its government announced Monday.
    An Austrian government statement said it is "prepared in particular to take measures to protect our southern borders," which include those with Italy and Slovenia.
    Austria did not say what those measures would be.

    More at: https://www.voanews.com/a/austria-to...s/4464535.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  32. #28

    Happy Hypocrite Not
    The subtitle to the feature image is quite telling.
    Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany leaving a meeting of the Christian Democratic Union in Berlin early Monday. “We share a common goal in migration policy,” the party said in a statement. “We want to order, control and limit migration to Germany.
    Say what?
    When did this become Germany's goal? And what about refugee camps in Africa, with no African nation agreeing?
    The New York Times reports Merkel, to Survive, Agrees to Border Camps for Migrants.
    Chancellor Angela Merkel, who staked her legacy on welcoming hundreds of thousands of migrants into Germany, agreed on Monday to build border camps for asylum seekers and to tighten the border with Austria in a political deal to save her government.
    Although the move to appease the conservatives exposed her growing political weakness, Ms. Merkel will limp on as chancellor. For how long is unclear. The nationalism and anti-migrant sentiment that has challenged multilateralism elsewhere in Europe is taking root — fast — in mainstream German politics.
    “Her political capital is depleted,” said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, director of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund. “We are well into the final chapter of the Merkel era.”
    Winner - AfD
    Eurointelligence has some pertinent comments.
    It is pointless to discuss who is the relative winner of this standoff. Both will lose because they have demonstrated that they cannot work together anymore. What it also shows is that attempts to solve the refugee problem, still the number one political issue in Germany, are secondary to the rivalries between CDU and CSU and inside the CSU. The beneficiary of this mess is the AfD. And there are state elections in Bavaria in October.
    The deal buys a truce that will last until October. We agree with Berthold Kohler's assessment in FAZ when he writes that Seehofer shares a large portion of the blame but not all of it. The CSU will increasingly blame Merkel - especially if they do badly at the elections. And the rest of the country has learned that the only way the two parties papered over the crisis is through the Kafkaesque legal fiction which they agreed last night.
    Done Deal? No So Fast
    CDU and CSU may have agreed to this deal but what about SPD?
    DW comments Angela Merkel's Last-Ditch Migrant Compromise Under Scrutiny.
    Germany's conservatives have finally found common ground on migration policy, but skepticism is rife. The proposed measures have also raised concerns over the future of the open-border Schengen Area.
    Now the ball is in the center-left court of the Social Democrats (SPD) — the other player in the grand coalition. Without a green light from the SPD, new measures can't be implemented. SPD party leader Andrea Nahles said there was "still a lot that needs to be discussed."
    In forming the long-awaited new German government earlier this year, the SPD made its opposition to closed migrant centers at borders clear — a stance which was reiterated by several SPD delegates on Tuesday.
    "Transit centers are in no way covered by the coalition agreement," Aziz Bozkurt, the SPD's expert on migration, told German newspaper Die Welt, adding that the camps were "above the SPD's pain threshold."
    "The SPD issued a clear rejection of closed camps," Kevin Kühnert, head of the SPD's youth wing, Jusos, told the dpa news agency.
    Repercussions? You Bet!
    The repercussions of the planned border controls could be felt well beyond the borders of Bavaria. Now the future of open-border travel across the 26 member states of the Schengen Zone could be threatened by stricter controls on the Bavarian-Austrian border.
    Responding to the German conservatives' deal, Vienna said it was prepared to take unspecified measures to "protect" Austria's southern borders with Italy and Slovenia if its neighbor turns back migrants.
    One of the key points in the migration deal between Germany's conservatives is that asylum seekers will be rejected at the German-Austrian border if they are registered in another EU country.

    How did Vienna respond to the CDU/CSU agreement? pic.twitter.com/t30KirQmrB
    — DW | Politics (@dw_politics) July 3, 2018
    Agreement? Really?
    So, not only does the SPD have a say in this matter, so does Austria.
    Merkel repeatedly makes deals that are not hers to make. In fact, this crisis stems from precisely that fact. "We can do this."
    Well, no you can't, and didn't.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...till-not-final
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  33. #29
    Germany's interior minister says a new plan to establish so-called "transit centers" at the Austrian border to quickly process new migrant arrivals envisions sending people directly back to where they first entered the European Union, primarily Greece and Italy.
    Saying he was "convinced these will be very difficult talks," Horst Seehofer said Thursday "it is a problem for all of Europe and we want to negotiate with Italy and Greece" to send them back migrants who had already registered and applied for asylum in those countries, the main entry points to the EU.
    The comments in Vienna came after talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who backed the plan, saying that he hoped it could be resolved during his country's EU presidency, which just began and lasts six months.

    More at: http://lufkindailynews.com/news/inte...b9d923234.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  34. #30
    The leaders of Germany's three-way coalition have agreed to a comprehensive immigration package to deal with migrants seeking asylum, following a multi-week power struggle that almost saw chancellor Angela Merkel out of a job, as well as the almost-resignation of German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

    Merkel's Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) have all agreed on a compromise package to deal with illegal migration which will strengthen asylum policy.
    SPD Chairman Andrea Nahles announced the agreement Thursday night after a coalition committee meeting in Berlin, which includes "no camps" for refugee housing as well as an accelerated process for repatriating refugees.
    Interior Minister Seehofer (CSU) was optimistic about the agreement, whose terms were documented by Welt (translated):

    • The right to asylum does not include the right to choose the European country to receive asylum. For this reason, persons who have already applied for asylum in another European Union member state (EURODAC Cat. 1 entry) are to be rejected directly to the competent country at the German-Austrian border, provided that an administrative agreement or conduct has been concluded with that Member State that he has withdrawn the claimants. In cases where countries refuse administrative direct rejection agreements, the refusal takes place at the German-Austrian border on the basis of an agreement with the Republic of Austria.
    • For the purpose of the transit procedure, the Federal Police shall use its existing facilities close to the border, unless the persons are brought directly to the existing accommodation facility in the transit area of ​​Munich Airport and can return from there to the receiving country. There will be separate rooms in the accommodation for families and persons with special needs. As with the existing airport procedure, the persons do not legally travel to Germany. The rejection will be made within 48 hours.
    • For those asylum seekers who have already been registered in another EU Member State and are found domestically, a special, accelerated procedure will be introduced in the ANKER bodies. In accordance with the special reception facilities already regulated in the Asylum Act, this is standardized in a separate regulation (BAMF procedural sections within one week each, Residenzpflicht, no distribution to the local authorities). The accelerated procedure does not justify self-admission to the asylum appraisal, it is limited to the jurisdiction review under the Dublin Regulation. Increased use of veiling detectives and other intelligent border police approaches can significantly increase the number of those who are covered by a EURODAC entry close to the border and who are immediately taken to the AnKER centers. To further speed up the procedures, the Federal Ministry of the Interior will swiftly implement the results of the Bund-Länder working group on the Dublin procedure set up by the Minister Presidents' Conference.
    • The Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Homeland will also submit timely proposals for further acceleration of the Dublin process. As part of the ongoing Dublin IV reform, Germany will work for an efficient redesign. The goal is to conclude a Dublin procedure in a few days.
    • Today a Dublin return from Germany only succeeds in about 15% of cases. To significantly increase this ratio, we conclude administrative agreements with various EU Member States in accordance with Art. 36 Dublin Regulation. These agreements are intended to accelerate the return processes and to eliminate mutual hindrances to return. Thus, Germany can work much more effectively at the Dublin return. In addition, the Dublin area of ​​the BAMF has to be considerably strengthened. The just agreed increase in personnel at BAMF is essential for this and will be continued if necessary.
    • Germany will support the EU Member States at the external borders of the European Union in meeting their particular challenges. For example, Spain and Greece have agreed to progressively complete and close the cases of family reunification.
    • In order to further speed up the return, the Confederation will repatriate the Dublin cases from the AnKER institutions, as far as the respective countries so desire. So far, although the procedure for clarifying the return of the BAMF is carried out - but the responsibility for the actual repatriation goes to one of the immigration authorities. This delays the procedures and is therefore changed. In addition, the Confederation will in future also take over the procurement of the necessary travel documents, as far as the respective countries so desire.
    • The European Council has decided to significantly expand FRONTEX and extend its mandate. We will support these efforts.
    • Germany will fight visa abuse at European level.
    • The bill for a skilled labor immigration law will be introduced into the legislative process by the Federal Cabinet this year.

    Now to get Austria and Hungary to agree
    The announced deal comes on the heels of discussions held by Merkel and Seehofer with the leaders of Hungary and Austria respectively in order to gain support for border policy.

    While Seehofer travelled to Vienna to meet with Austrian prime minister Sebastian Kurz - one week after they conducted a massive border drill, Merkel met with Hungarian leader Victor Orban in Berlin to try and implore Hungary to soften its stance on migrants.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ry-cooperation
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

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