German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday struggled to find a compromise on migrant policy with her Bavarian allies to avert a crisis in her loveless coalition just three months after it took power.
Analysts say her own authority is at stake and possibly the future of her alliance with Bavarian conservatives and Social Democrats at a time when divisions within Europe have come to a head over how to deal with a ship carrying migrants near Italy.
The showdown with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and his Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) is over his Masterplan for Migration, a blueprint in which he wants to show voters a new tough line before a difficult Bavarian election in October.
There was no immediate deal in sight after a crisis meeting on Thursday and in an extraordinary move, the parliamentary groups of the CSU and Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) are holding separate gatherings.
Join our twitter community :