German Chancellor Angela Merkel was fighting Tuesday to stamp out the first major row within her uneasy coalition, as disputes over her refugee policy returned to haunt her while she negotiates a broad EU asylum deal. The discord within her conservative bloc burst into the open on Monday when hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, of Merkel’s Bavarian allies CSU, hastily cancelled the presentation of his tough new “masterplan” on immigration. Merkel has made clear she rejects a plan to turn back at German borders any asylum-seeker already registered in another EU country, arguing that her country shouldn’t go it alone while Europe searches for a common policy.
