Refugee crisis opens new rifts in Merkel government

The emotional debate over Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II is tearing at German Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right coalition government, exposing deep rifts and even open dissent.

Barely 24 hours after Merkel's three-party coalition had settled weeks of infighting and agreed on a new refugee policy, a senior minister forged ahead with a different plan, sparking confusion, anger and distrust.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Friday that Syrian asylum seekers would be given shorter residence permits and denied the right to be reunited with their families in a bid to limit the influx which is expected to reach one million this year.

The idea was quickly shot down by the chancellery, which said it had no advance knowledge of it, and sparked outrage from Merkel's centre-left coalition allies the Social Democrats (SPD).

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD , who hopes to take over Merkel's job after 2017 elections, fumed that it looked like the government's "left hand no longer knows what the right hand is doing".

While observers in Berlin wondered whether de Maiziere had been quietly tasked with playing the "bad cop" who floats controversial ideas, or whether he simply struck out alone, the perception of chaos grew.

Worse for Merkel, powerful Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and many conservative lawmakers have voiced sympathy for the idea of barring mostly-male Syrian refugees from calling their wives and children to Germany.

"We need to limit family reunifications," said Schaeuble, Merkel's hardline lieutenant in the eurozone crisis. "Because our capacity to accommodate refugees is not unlimited."

European lawmaker Ska Keller of the opposition Greens party, meanwhile, labelled de Maiziere's plan "a catastrophic idea, because the people who are dying in the Mediterranean... die because they have no legal and secure way to immigrate".

Caption: Angela Merkel

Photo: Business Insider