With German elections drawing closer this year, political parties in Germany are busy negotiating union terms with each other. As usual, Merkel's party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its usual coalition partner, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are in talks to define their campaign promises and goals. CSU leader Horst Seehofer made his opinion clear: a maximum limit is needed for refugee admissions. Sources suggest Seehofer even stated that this was required for him to sign the coalition agreement.
But Angela Merkel vehemently refused it. With no intention to negotiate, the German Chancellor stated that she will not accept the terms of the agreement and is, as before, against a ceiling for refugee admissions, despite their growing numbers and the problems they have been causing across Europe. Instead, she claims all problems could be handled and solved in different ways. In the end, the coalition agreement was signed without a mention of reducing the refugee numbers with a cap.
Additionally, Merkel refused the CSU's demand for nationwide referendums, stating “under no circumstances” would she agree to that. Refusing to allow the public to decide on specific issues in such strong terms could be seen as a sign that she knows quite a lot of people actually disagree with her.
Because of this, the CSU decided to add their demands for refugee limits to their own separate plan for Bavaria.
Currently, thousands of refugees have been flooding Europe daily and Italy is in a state of emergency due to the large numbers of people entering the country, so much so the Italian government can't take care of or deal with them anymore.
