Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel reached a deal on migration with her rebellious interior minister, Horst Seehofer, defusing a bitter row that had threatened her government.
Both sides hammered out “a truly good compromise ... after a tough struggle and difficult days,” Merkel said on Monday, adding that it involved setting up holding and processing centres for asylum seekers near German borders.
However, the deal ran into European resistance with neighbouring Austria vowing to “protect” its borders. criticism from Vienna and her junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), threatened to throw a spanner in the works.
If the agreement reached is approved by the German government as a whole, “we will be obliged to take measures to avoid disadvantages for Austria,” Vienna warned.
