Europe on Hold as Angela Merkel Grips to her Chancellorship

Recently the EU has been exposed to some serious issues like a trade war with the US and the migration crisis which require prompt action. However, the EU is hanging as the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is in bitter dispute with conservatives at home over refugee policy. 

In order to bolster the falling government of Merkel, EU leaders gathered for an emergency summit on migration. The informal summit that took place in Brussels is construed as a lifeline for the German Chancellor. Her CDU party has been involved in a disagreement with the conservative party, the CSU, in Bavaria.

“The meeting on Sunday is a consultation and working meeting at which there will be no concluding statement” said Merkel as she downplayed the expectations of the meeting.

Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy, agreed to hold a meeting in Brussels only after Merkel put away a pre-written communique of the meeting that surfaced last week, angering the Italian Prime Minister. Previously, he has neglected the emergency of migrant arriving in Italy.

Despite a sharp decline in the number of migrant arrivals in both Germany and Italy, the topic of migration has become political football in both countries. The migration issues has recently shaken up the government under Merkel especially after country’s interior minister gave a two-day ultimatum to Merkel for dealing with the asylum claimants that were scheduled to arrive in Germany from other EU nations. The interior minister, Horst Seehofer, is the leader of the conservative CSU.

German Social Democrat, Udo Bullmann, accused the CSU of instigating a crisis situation with regard to the migration to support its chances in the elections scheduled to occur this autumn.

“The Bavarian CSU is doing what they always do when the face a crisis, they are organising a crisis with their sister party” said Bullmann.

With the recent turmoil, the EU seems like it is in disarray on the topic of migration and the possibility of reaching EU-wide consensus is very low. With fewer migrants coming from Africa to Europe and an increasing number of them dying during the journey, the crisis cannot be more manageable and simultaneously more urgent.