Merkel pressured on all fronts as ally takes swipe over migrants

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked ever more isolated over her open-door policy on refugees on Saturday as it emerged that the leader of her party’s Bavarian allies suggested this week she had become impervious to other people’s views on the issue.

“Chancellors in an advanced stage of their office only believe in themselves,” Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), told a party meeting on Thursday during a discussion of Merkel’s refugee policy.

Germany attracted 1.1 million asylum seekers last year, leading to calls from across the political spectrum for a change in its handling of the flood of refugees coming to Europe to escape war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

But Merkel, in her third term in office since coming to power in 2005, has resisted domestic pressure for border closures and a refugee cap.

With three closely watched regional elections looming in March, Merkel is facing the toughest spell of her chancellorship over her handling of the refugee crisis.

In the last week, polls have shown sliding support for her conservative bloc, 44 members of which wrote to her urging a change of course, and respected President Joachim Gauck said there was nothing immoral about limiting the refugee influx.