Daily Times

Germany’s most influential business organizations are calling for an end to bickering within Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc over migration, backing the chancellor and suggesting the strife is weakening the country at a critical time.

Merkel and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who heads her Bavarian-only sister CSU party, have been at odds over his insistence on unilaterally turning some migrants away at Germany’s borders. She has been insisting on a Europe-wide solution to migration issues. In a joint statement Friday, groups representing industry, employers, trade and small businesses took aim at Seehofer, saying “national unilateral actions do more harm than good.” The groups say the “political disputes damage the reputation of Germany… (and) weaken us on the European and international stage.”

Published in Daily Times, June 30^th 2018.