Angela Merkel was locked in a power struggle with her own interior minister on Monday as he fought to impose his "master-plan" to reduce the number of migrants in the country.
Horst Seehofer, leader of the smaller coalition party Christian Social Union (CSU), has threatened to resign if Mrs Merkel, who has been chancellor since 2005, pursues a European based migration initiative agreed just last Friday.
Tense intra-party talks took place at the German parliament in Berlin throughout the day. Mr Seehofer told his local Munich paper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, that he would not back down under pressure.
"I will not be fired by the chancellor who is only chancellor because of me," he said.
At the national level, Mrs Merkel proposes that migrants arriving in Germany who first registered in another EU country should be placed in "admissions centres" under restrictive conditions.
Mr Seehofer views this offer as too weak, restricting Berlin's ability to send back refugees who claimed asylum in other European countries to those states.
Mr Seehofer wants to prevent asylum seekers from entering Germany if they have registered elsewhere in Europe. Mrs Merkel returned from an EU summit with what she says is an agreement with 16 other EU states to take back migrants registered there, about as much as could be expected without violating the bloc's free movement rules.
"The CSU has no recognisable strategy anymore, since the weekend," said Seehofer biographer Peter Mueller, author of "The power struggle: Seehofer and the Future of the CSU".
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Read more:
Migrant deaths crossing Mediterranean surpass 1,000 in 2018
Germany's Merkel to discuss plans to reduce immigration
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Mr Seehofer describes the confrontation as a matter of principle. EU rules clearly state that asylum seekers with pending applications do not enjoy the freedom of movement rights of citizens.
"With his threat of resignation and a renewed offer to negotiate, Seehofer has lost the last bit of credibility. The CSU acts like someone who is holding a gun to his own head and then threatens someone else with it. Horst Seehofer has put himself into a dead end, there is no way out."
The chancellor has warned "everyone knows the situation is serious" between her centre-right Christian Democratic Union and the CSU allies.
Mr Seehofer, who is CSU leader as well as federal interior minister, rejected her assessment that the EU-wide measures would "have the same effect" as his demand to turn away at the border asylum seekers already registered in other EU nations.
If he orders border police to go ahead with the scheme in defiance of the chancellor, Mrs Merkel would be forced to fire him, in turn prompting a CSU walkout that could cost her her majority in parliament.
The Bavarian party's discontent comes despite many of its long-standing migration demands appearing in the EU summit deal.
The new measures agreed on Friday were much more about reducing immigration into the EU than the so-called "secondary migration" of asylum seekers between countries
The leaders agreed to consider setting up "disembarkation platforms" outside the EU, most likely in North Africa, in a bid to discourage migrants and refugees boarding EU-bound smuggler boats.
Member countries could create processing centres to determine whether the new arrivals are returned home as economic migrants or admitted as refugees in willing states.
The document also outlined deals with 16 other countries to return already-registered migrants if they reached Germany.
The chancellor's crisis has been prompted by the CSU's fear of losing its absolute majority in Bavaria's state parliament, for which elections will be held in October.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Tiger%20Stripes%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Amanda%20Nell%20Eu%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zafreen%20Zairizal%2C%20Deena%20Ezral%20and%20Piqa%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Scoreline
Saudi Arabia 1-0 Japan
Saudi Arabia Al Muwallad 63’
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
ARSENAL IN 1977
Feb 05 Arsenal 0-0 Sunderland
Feb 12 Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal
Feb 15 Middlesbrough 3-0 Arsenal
Feb 19 Arsenal 2-3 West Ham
Feb 26 Middlesbrough 4-1 Arsenal (FA Cup)
Mar 01 Everton 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 05 Arsenal 1-4 ipswich
March 08 Arsenal 1-2 West Brom
Mar 12 QPR 2-1 Arsenal
Mar 23 Stoke 1-1 Arsenal
Apr 02 Arsenal 3-0 Leicester
More from Aya Iskandarani
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
match details
Wales v Hungary
Cardiff City Stadium, kick-off 11.45pm
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders
Stuart Kells, Counterpoint Press
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
TEST SQUADS
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.
