Merkel's Migration Fight at Home Weakens Her With EU
A Bavarian state election is putting her push for a common policy to the test.
Merkel and Seehofer before their partnership started to unravel.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
If only Chancellor Angela Merkel had a euro for every time German journalists have pronounced her career over. Now, the prophets of doom are at it again. Although they are hyping the danger to Merkel, the domestic political crisis they are warning about is impeding her ability to get things done in Europe.
On the surface, Merkel’s fresh bout of trouble seems linked to the re-emergence of migration as the key issue in German politics. Yet the number of asylum seekers has fallen since the peak in 2016. In the first four months of this year, 56,127 first-time applications were filed, compared with 240,126 in the same period of 2016.