(Germany) Grand coalition talks adjourned over key refugee issue

http://www.dw.com/en/grand-coalition-talks-adjourned-over-key-refugee-issue/a-42346390

Grand coalition talks adjourned over key refugee issue

Six hours of nighttime talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats led by Martin Schulz were adjourned early Monday morning with "all sides" ostensibly still working toward a February 4 deadline.

"The work and the discussion continues; perhaps not always at such hours," said Michael Grosse-Brömer, manager of Merkel's Bundestag parliamentary alliance comprising her Christian Democrats (CDU) and Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU). In what was portrayed as a joint statement, Grosse-Brömer said "all sides" were "determined to find solutions."

A Social Democrat (SPD) source quoted by Reuters said "squealing" summed up the tone of Sunday night's talks, with the three parties still at odds on a SPD call to allow relatives abroad to join refugees granted subsidiary protection status. The issue had been forwarded to "expert level," a reference to working groups, drawn from the three parties, that had also consulted throughout the weekend.
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Renewed failure could force Merkel to head a risky minority government or trigger a second German federal election only months after last September's federal poll that left the conservatives and SPD with heavy losses.
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