Senior Coalition Partner Threatens To Sue Merkel If Government Doesn’t Close Southern Border

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partner says new integration deal is good but doesn’t go far enough and maintains his threat to take Merkel to court if she doesn’t act to close borders.

Horst Seehofer, leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and major partner of Chancellor Angela Merkel says that the government has made good progress on the issues surrounding the migrant crisis, but it’s only one step in the right direction.

The new scheme for integrating new migrants put forth by the CSU is to tell migrants that their benefits depend on their willingness to learn German and to integrate into German society.

“It was a long, exhausting evening with good results,” said Seehofer who is also the Prime minister of Bavaria. Seehofer said, in a joint press conference with Chancellor Merkel, that the new integration act was “comprehensive” and said that it could succeed as a path for migrant integration reports Zeit. He reaffirmed that he would continue to cooperate with Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), at least until the next Federal elections in 2017.

Seehofer also took the time to say that his parties threat of a constitutional challenge to the policies of the migrant crisis hadn’t gone away just because the integration act was agreed on. The CSU sent Merkel a letter in January calling for the Chancellor to enact stricter border controls with Austria which Merkel had refused to do citing the Schengen agreement rules.

One by one European Union members, starting with Hungary, have put restrictions on their borders. Yet Mrs. Merkel has stood alone arguing that the Schengen agreement must be upheld without restriction.

Seehofer said he and his party have still not received a reply from Frau Merkel to their request. The Chancellor said she would look at evaluating the letter and make her response reasonable “as it should be common in the treatment between parties or in this case the federal government and the Bavarian State government.”

Merkel maintained her attitude of “Wir schaffen das!” or ” we can do it!” and told the press that, “the big challenge is that the refugees integrate,” and said that they will make it clear to migrants that they will be expected to cooperate.

The CSU have been to the right of Merkel’s party since the start of the migrant crisis and their attitude has only been strengthened int he wake of the Cologne mass sex attacks on New Years Eve. Former leader of the CSU Edmund Stoiber who is regarded highly by party members, said he’d rather see the border closed to all migrants if it meant solving the crisis, “if necessary, against the opinion of Mrs Merkel.”