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AFP
Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel began a last-ditch meeting Monday with her rebellious Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to resolve a bitter row over immigration that threatens her government.
Seehofer, a vocal critic of Merkel's open welcome to a mass influx of refugees and migrants three years ago, has threatened to resign as minister and as head of the conservative Bavarian CSU party unless they hammer out a compromise.
Seehofer quitting, or getting fired by the chancellor, could spark a cabinet walk-out of other ministers of his CSU, the traditional ally of Merkel's CDU, which would end their alliance and imperil her fragile coalition government by destroying its parliamentary majority.
While both parties sought to de-escalate the crisis, Seehofer remained defiant until the last moment, pointing to his leadership of a party that had proved its ballot-box muscle in the past.
"I'm not going to let myself be fired by a chancellor who is only chancellor because of me,"he said shortly before the last-ditch meeting, in comments to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.
Other parties and the media have slammed what they call a reckless game of chicken, with Der Spiegel commenting:"It is fair to ask: has the CSU lost its mind? In the end, the government could fall and an old, proud party could descend into ridiculousness."
The head of the third party in Merkel's fragile coalition government, Social Democrats chief Andrea Nahles, condemned Seehofer's"blackmail attempts"and charged that"the CSU is on a dangerous ego trip that is paralysing Germany and Europe".
