German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the architect of Europe’s devastating open-door migrant policy, is facing a challenger from within the ranks of her own increasingly tenuous governing coalition of her own Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, and a Christian Democratic sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union. Merkel, who announced plans to run for a fourth term a chancellor next year, may not last long as German head of government if Bavaria’s Christian Social Union Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has his way.
Seehofer is a fierce critic of Merkel’s migrant policy that opened Germany’s borders to over a million, mainly Muslim, refugees from war zones in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa. Not only has Seehofer wooed supporters of the anti-migrant and anti-EU Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party to his ranks but he has crafted an anti-migration alliance with leaders of neighboring Alpine countries, particularly Austria. Austrian Freedom Party (OVP) presidential candidate Norbert Hofer, who is opposed to the EU and Merkel’s migrant policy, recently expressed his own views of Merkel during a presidential election debate with his pro-EU Green Party opponent. Hofer said Merkel “inflicted considerable damage on Europe when she opened the borders to refugees and, as a result, hundreds of thousands of refugees, including terrorists, have moved through Austria.”
Seehofer has also reached out to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who called Merkel’s migrant policy a “disaster” that only served to boost crime rates in Germany. Seehofer has invited Trump to Bavaria holding out the possibility that Trump’s first foreign trip as president could be to the Munich Security Conference in February 2017. What worries the globalists, Atlanticists, and NATO boosters the most is a Europe dominated by nationalist leaders in Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and other countries who will work with Trump in Washington and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to disentangle Europe from the EU, open borders, NATO, and globalist policies.
Seehofer has created a Trans-Alpine coalition of political leaders who are opposed to the failed policies of the EU and Merkel on immigration. They include the OVP in Austria, the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his FIDESZ party, the French National Front of Marine Le Pen, Liechtenstein’s Prime Minister Adrian Hasler, and the small German irredentist South Tyrolean People’s Party in northern Italy.
A populist wave is sweeping across Europe and the United States that has within its sights the discredited notions of Euro-Atlanticism, free trade, globalization, and open borders. One German leader, Horst Seehofer, has not been shy about catching that wave, even if it means a clean break from Merkel and her Social Democratic allies.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
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Merkel facing anti-migrant rebellion by Bavarian leader
Posted on December 2, 2016 by Wayne Madsen
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the architect of Europe’s devastating open-door migrant policy, is facing a challenger from within the ranks of her own increasingly tenuous governing coalition of her own Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, and a Christian Democratic sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union. Merkel, who announced plans to run for a fourth term a chancellor next year, may not last long as German head of government if Bavaria’s Christian Social Union Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has his way.
Seehofer is a fierce critic of Merkel’s migrant policy that opened Germany’s borders to over a million, mainly Muslim, refugees from war zones in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa. Not only has Seehofer wooed supporters of the anti-migrant and anti-EU Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party to his ranks but he has crafted an anti-migration alliance with leaders of neighboring Alpine countries, particularly Austria. Austrian Freedom Party (OVP) presidential candidate Norbert Hofer, who is opposed to the EU and Merkel’s migrant policy, recently expressed his own views of Merkel during a presidential election debate with his pro-EU Green Party opponent. Hofer said Merkel “inflicted considerable damage on Europe when she opened the borders to refugees and, as a result, hundreds of thousands of refugees, including terrorists, have moved through Austria.”
Seehofer has also reached out to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who called Merkel’s migrant policy a “disaster” that only served to boost crime rates in Germany. Seehofer has invited Trump to Bavaria holding out the possibility that Trump’s first foreign trip as president could be to the Munich Security Conference in February 2017. What worries the globalists, Atlanticists, and NATO boosters the most is a Europe dominated by nationalist leaders in Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and other countries who will work with Trump in Washington and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to disentangle Europe from the EU, open borders, NATO, and globalist policies.
Seehofer has created a Trans-Alpine coalition of political leaders who are opposed to the failed policies of the EU and Merkel on immigration. They include the OVP in Austria, the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his FIDESZ party, the French National Front of Marine Le Pen, Liechtenstein’s Prime Minister Adrian Hasler, and the small German irredentist South Tyrolean People’s Party in northern Italy.
A populist wave is sweeping across Europe and the United States that has within its sights the discredited notions of Euro-Atlanticism, free trade, globalization, and open borders. One German leader, Horst Seehofer, has not been shy about catching that wave, even if it means a clean break from Merkel and her Social Democratic allies.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2016 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).