Angela Merkel's showdown with minister over migrants

German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo / AP

Angela Merkel faces a showdown with a rebellious minister today that could bring down her government and lead to the end of her political career.

In an open challenge to the German Chancellor, Horst Seehofer, the Interior Minister and leader of her Bavarian sister party, is threatening to order police to start turning away migrants at the border today, after an ultimatum he issued last week expires.

Such a move would leave Merkel with a choice between sacking him and risking the collapse of her government, or suffering a potentially fatal blow to her authority.

The chancellor was holding crisis meetings with her inner circle amid unconfirmed reports Seehofer and his Christian Social Union party (CSU) are ready to step back from the brink and offer her another two weeks to come up with a European solution.

"No one in the CSU is interested in overthrowing the Chancellor or bringing down the government," Seehofer told Bild am Sonntag.

But behind closed doors he gave party colleagues a different message, according to Welt am Sonntag, telling them: "I cannot work with that woman any more".

Senior CSU sources denied reports he had agreed to a two-week stay on the order to start turning migrants away at the border.

Merkel is reportedly seeking urgent talks with key European Union allies on the frontline of the migrant crisis in an attempt to stave off the crisis. She wants to negotiate bilateral deals with Italy, Greece and Austria to allow Germany to turn away asylum-seekers who are already registered there. "So far nothing has been decided, we are in the planning phase. It is also unclear when exactly this special summit could take place," Bild quoted an unnamed Italian government source as saying.

Merkel's supporters say she blocked Seehofer's plan to turn away migrants who are already registered in other EU countries at the German border because she fears it could derail her hopes of securing an Europe-wide migrant policy at the next EU summit in two weeks. But she needs to come up with something sooner if she is to see off Seehofer's rebellion. The CSU is threatening to end its longstanding alliance with Merkel's Christian Democrat party (CDU) and pull out of the Government if Seehofer is attacked. But in a sign divisions between the two parties are hardening the CDU was reported to be drawing up contingency plans to seek a new coalition partner in the event of a CSU withdrawal, with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Green Party as candidates.

The manoeuvring in Berlin came as ships carrying more than 600 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean and refused permission to land in Italy and Malta arrived in Valencia after the Spanish Government offered to take them in. Matteo Salvini, the Italian Interior Minister, told a rally he hoped Spain would "take 66,629 more".