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Merkel Says She’s Pushing to Avoid Party Breakup Over Migration

Merkel Says She’s Pushing to Avoid Party Breakup Over Migration

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she’s making every effort to avoid a breakup of her Christian Democrat-led party bloc over migration, without revealing whether the standoff is resolved.

Merkel commented in a ZDF television interview on Sunday as leaders of her Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, gathered in Munich to decide whether to push the conflict to a full-blown crisis that could cost the chancellor her parliamentary majority.

“I’d like the CDU and CSU to continue working together because we’re a success story for Germany,” Merkel said. Citing last week’s deal on migration among European Union leaders, she said that proposed measures to tackle so-called secondary migration within the EU marked a concession to the CSU.

Taken together, the various elements of the EU deal should meet the Bavarian party’s goal of addressing secondary migration to Germany, Merkel said.

“Of course the CSU has to make that determination itself,” she said.

“We are living in times when there’s a lot at stake,” said Merkel, who reiterated she opposes unilateral border measures, the threat at the center of her clash with the CSU. “I approach these matters with inner conviction.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Iain Rogers, Tony Czuczka

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