German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a last-ditch effort to resolve a row over migrant policy with her conservative allies on Monday after a top Minister threatened to resign, casting doubt on whether her coalition can survive. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer offered to quit his Cabinet post and the chairmanship of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) at a party meeting on Sunday. It was unclear whether this was high-risk brinkmanship aimed at making Ms. Merkel back down.
The CSU had threatened to impose new controls at the German border this week if they deemed that agreements and proposals Ms. Merkel brought back from a European Union (EU) summit were insufficient to ease the migrant burden.
Ms. Merkel is against unilateral action by the authorities in Bavaria, the main entry point for migrants into Germany, saying it goes against European law. Mr. Seehofer was later persuaded by party colleagues to talk to Ms. Merkel one last time on Monday to try to settle the dispute, declaring he would make his final decision within three days.