Kurz rebuffs Seehofer
German Interior Minister Seehofer (CSU) has paid a visit to Austrian Chancellor Kurz in a bid to push through his plans for stopping asylum seekers on the German border. Kurz, however, has rejected the idea that refugees to whom the Dublin Regulation applies should be sent back to Austria. The politics of national egotisms have reached their limit, media in both countries comment gleefully.
Right-wing populists have no sense of solidarity
Seehofer has had to admit in Vienna that he worked out the menu for repatriating refugees without consulting the cook, the Süddeutsche Zeitung taunts:
“While there he has had to sheepishly admit that Austria can't be made responsible for the refugees that are registered in third countries. Although that's both awkward and embarrassing, it seems that the lesson has not been learnt. Seehofer now wants to try his luck in Italy and Greece. ... In fact this entire farce serves as a lesson for what can happen when Europe is left to forces that do politics with patriotic phrases. Even if the right-wing populists from Hungary and Munich to Vienna like to make a show of mutual solidarity, their solidarity logically ends where their own individual interests begin. A 'national international' is a contradiction in terms.”
Bavarian lion as a bedside rug
The meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has demonstrated just how weak Horst Seehofer is, Kurier believes:
“First he held Bavaria, then Germany, and now finally the entire EU hostage for his non-stop show: Here comes Horst - ready to save Bavaria from the swelling flow of refugees. And yet everyone knew from the start that Seehofer has only one objective: getting rid of Merkel and re-establishing the CSU's absolute majority [in Bavaria's state elections this autumn]. The chancellor has turned the tables and is now sending her closest enemy on a 'mission impossible' to his EU minister colleagues - starting yesterday in Vienna. ... First there was the row over 1,500 refugees that Bavaria wanted to detain in 'transit centres' and if need be deport to Austria, amid much campaign blustering. Yesterday we saw the once fierce Bavarian lion in the process of ending up as a worn-out bedside rug in a non-fictional political no man's land.”