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The post Germany centre-left, conservative coalition talks drag into third day first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The prospective partners in Germany’s new government resumed their push to nail down a coalition deal on Monday, but it was unclear whether they would clinch an agreement before the day is over.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats originally set a Sunday deadline to wrap up talks on extending their alliance of the past four years, but budgeted two extra days as a precaution when formal negotiations started Jan. 26.

Still on the table are two points that are important to the Social Democrats: curbing the use of temporary work contracts and trying to narrow differences between Germany’s public and private health insurance systems.

“I assume that we can get this finally done today,” Volker Bouffier, a deputy leader of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, told reporters as he arrived for the talks. “I’m not certain, but confident. We may need until early tomorrow.”

Germany’s effort to put together a governing coalition after its Sept. 24 election is already its longest since World War II.

It won’t finish with these talks. A deal will have to be approved in a ballot of the Social Democrats’ members, many of whom are skeptical after a disastrous election result. That process will take a few weeks.

Merkel’s attempt to put together a government with two smaller parties collapsed in November. Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz, who had previously ruled out renewing the “grand coalition” of Germany’s biggest parties, then reversed course.

Failure to reach an agreement, or a deal’s rejection by Social Democrat members, would leave a minority government under Merkel or a new election as the only viable governing options.

Martin Schulz, head of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, SPD, speaks to journalists at the start of a new round of coalition talks in Berlin, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats embarked Sunday on what they hope is their last round of talks on forming a new German government, although the negotiations could take up to two more days. dpa via AP Kay Nietfeld

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Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article198401499.html

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The post German parties resume push for coalition government deal first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Leader Martin Schulz faced a strong backlash from the party’s left and youth wings, which argue that the SPD should reinvent itself in opposition.

The party recently scored its worst election result in September since Germany became a federal republic in 1949.

But this afternoon the 600 Social Democrat delegates voted to allow leaders to enter into formal coalition talks with Angela Merkel’s CDU.

The post Germany coalition vote PASSED: Merkel survives another day as SPD back Schulz first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

He said:

“We do not consider these people to be Muslim refugees, we regard them as Muslim invaders.”

“One has to cross four countries to arrive from Syria in Hungary”, Orban said.

“Those people do not run for their lives but seek a better life. The refugees should have requested admission in advance, but instead they had breached the border illegally.”

As Deutsche Welle reports, according to Orban what Europe has seen was not a wave of refugees, but an invasion. He mentioned that he never understood how in a country like Germany the chaos and the illegal crossing of borders could be celebrated as something good.

When asked by Bild whether it was fair for Germany to accept hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants while Hungary accepted none, Orban responded:

“The difference is, you wanted the migrants, and we didn’t.”

Migration, he said, threatens the “sovereignty and cultural identity” of Hungary.

The Hungarian prime minister rejected the idea that his country should accept people from Muslim-majority countries.

“We believe that a large number of Muslims inevitably leads to parallel societies, because Christian and Muslim society will never unite,” he said.

“Multiculturalism is only an illusion.”

Orban added that Germany’s SPD leader Martin Schulz should have more respect for his country.

Schulz earlier criticised Orban’s visit to a CSU party conference in Germany. Schulz said that Orban’s refugee policy can be considered as “dangerous”.

Source: http://westorlandonews.com/multiculturalism-is-only-an-illusion/

The post Multiculturalism is only an illusion first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Chancellor Angela Merkel attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt Reuters

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-12-13/germanys-spd-plays-hard-to-get-before-first-talks-with-merkel

The post Merkel Courts Germany’s Skittish SPD as Talks Open on Government first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Merkel stressed her interest in bolstering European unity and suggested that it could underpin a new “grand coalition” of Germany’s biggest parties — her own conservative Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats.

The two sides will begin discussions Wednesday on a possible extension of their coalition of the past four years. But it is far from certain that a new alliance will come together.

Germany is on course to easily beat its previous record of 86 days — set in 2013 — for the time from an election to the swearing-in of a new government.

After their disastrous election result on Sept. 24, the Social Democrats said they would go into opposition. They reluctantly agreed to reconsider after Merkel’s coalition talks with two smaller parties collapsed.

Christian Democratic Union party chairwoman and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a party’s leaders meeting at the headquarters in Berlin, Monday, Dec. 11, 2017. Markus Schreiber AP Photo

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Source:  http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article189116449.html  

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The post Germany’s Merkel presses for quick move toward new coalition first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Appetite in Europe to formally end EU membership talks with Turkey may be lukewarm as the nation continues to help taper the influx of refugees into the European mainland. Merkel seeks consensus with trade-bloc allies over responding to Turkey’s alleged human-rights abuses and has requested a status report from the European Commission.

Trading Partners

Relations between Turkey and its largest trading partner plunged to new depths after Turkey arrested a German-Turkish journalist in February. Die Welt newspaper, the employer of jailed reporter Deniz Yuecel, reports daily on his plight.

Human-rights activist and German national Peter Steudtner was arrested in Turkey in July and faces as long as 15 years in prison if convicted of terrorism offenses. The Turkish government in Ankara has parried calls from the German Foreign Office for Steudtner’s immediate release.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last month gave an indication of what may appear in the report commissioned by Germany when condemning President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on political opponents and tirades against EU leaders.

“Turkey has been moving away from the European Union in leaps and bounds,” Juncker said in the televised address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. “That rules out EU membership for Turkey in the foreseeable future.”

Turkey, which has been seeking to join the EU since the 1980s, began accession negotiations in 2005. A failed coup last year has sparked the removal of thousands of teachers, judges and soldiers on ideological grounds, as well as a wave of arrests of journalists and opposition politicians.

Some 600 senior members of the Turkish judiciary and executive branches have sought asylum in Germany since the coup, the Funke Mediengruppe reported today, citing the Interior Ministry in Berlin.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-14/merkel-sees-no-decision-at-eu-summit-on-turkey-s-membership-bid

The post Merkel Says EU Won’t Decide on Turkey’s Membership Bid at Upcoming Summit first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The entry of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag (German parliament) has shocked many Germans, but the anti-immigration party’s surge has also unsettled Muslim migrants in Germany.

The AfD gained around 13 percent of votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election, becoming the Bundestag’s third largest party after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Martin Schulz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD). It is also the first time in more than half a century that a far-right group has made its way into the national parliament.

The AfD capitalized on anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany in the wake of Europe’s unprecedented refugee crisis. The party vehemently opposes Merkel’s pro-refugee policies that have resulted in an influx of over a million refugees from Middle Eastern and North African countries into Germany over the past two years.

The party raised anti-refugee slogans and held protests against what they deem the “Islamization” of Germany.

Read more: German election: AfD Islamophobia could help get Muslims to vote

Why are Europeans turning to far-right parties?

Winning back voters

In her victory speech, Merkel said she would try to win back right-wing voters in her next four years as German chancellor. This raises the specter of the AfD’s success forcing mainstream political parties to alter their stance on immigration and push the agenda toward the political right that could result in more deportations and difficult asylum conditions.

“I have been having sleepless nights since the election results came out. I fear the government could deport me to Afghanistan,” Kabir Usmani, a Frankfurt-based Afghan asylum-seeker, told DW.

“I left Afghanistan because I feared for my life, but I still live in fear — the fear of deportation,” Usmani, who has been living in Germany for three years, added.

Usmani’s asylum application has been rejected by the authorities but he still hopes to stay in the country for a longer period.

Tougher policies

Even after losing over eight percent of votes compared to the 2013 election, German Chancellor Merkel has bravely defended her refugee policy, insisting that her decision to take in refugees mainly from Syria, Iran and Afghanistan in 2015 was right. But many, even in her own party, are skeptical toward the chancellor’s approach.

Read more: Opinion: Sunny days are over for Angela Merkel

The major concern is that in order to win back right-wing supporters, Merkel could be forced to tighten her refugee policy.

“I’m worried about the future. I fear that in order to gain right-wing support, Germany’s political parties will toughen their stance towards us,” Wafa Khan Wafa, an Afghan refugee living in a village near Cologne, told DW.

Experts point out that the government has already taken a tough line towards refugees. Prior to the election, German authorities decided to resume deportations to Afghanistan that it had stopped after a deadly suicide attack near the German embassy in Kabul in June.

Read more: What is the status of German deportations to Afghanistan?

Read more:The dark side of Germany’s deportation policy

Many refugees have faith in Chancellor Merkel’s leadership and benevolence

Belief in the system

Some migrants, however, are optimistic that Angela Merkel won’t go too far in appeasing conservative sections of society. They say the AfD cannot undermine secular governance in Germany.

“Post election, the behavior towards foreigners may change to some extent, similar to what happened in the US after Donald Trump became president, but as long as Merkel and other democratic politicians are determined, the system will be protected,” a Bonn-based researcher from Pakistan told DW on condition of anonymity.

Afghan refugee Wafa says the new situation demands that asylum-seekers must also do their best to fully integrate in German society.

“It is very important for refugees to integrate in German society and fulfill their duties as law-abiding people so that the public opinion does not shift against them,” he underlined.

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Source: http://www.dw.com/en/far-right-afds-surge-worries-muslim-refugees-in-germany/a-40688641

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The post Far-right AfD’s surge worries Muslim refugees in Germany first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.