Sunday, November 15, 2015

'Paris changes everything': Bavarian allies pressure Merkel on her open-door policy for Muslim migrants

BERLIN (Reuters) - Bavarian allies cranked up pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday to reverse her "open-door" refugee policy, saying the deadly attacks in Paris underlined the need for tougher measures to control the influx of migrants.

The coordinated assault in the French capital, in which at least 129 people were killed, has fueled a debate over Merkel's welcoming approach to refugees and on how to get better intelligence about people entering the country.

The holder of a Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen who died in Friday night's attacks passed through Greece in October, a Greek minister said, and another suspected attacker was thought to have entered Europe the same way.

"The days of uncontrolled immigration and illegal entry can't continue just like that. Paris changes everything," Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

His comments came after Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer, leader of Merkel's sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had urged better protection of Germany's frontier and called for stricter controls at Europe's external borders.

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