Merkel under the cosh

The German government nearly collapsed over the question of immigration, an issue that has toppled - or threatens to topple - a number of establishment governments across the European Union, and now Merkel has done a quick about turn to keep her seat at the head of the government nice and warm.

In 2015 Merkel welcomed nearly one million migrants and refugees as part of what she had christened Germany’s "Willkommenskultur". Her opponents within Germany and across Europe have regularly attacked her for that, forcing her to reverse course, as her recent standoff with Horst Seehofer, her own interior minister, clearly showed.

And now that Italy and other countries have closed their borders to migrants risking their lives, Germany is taking a swipe at Spain for doing exactly what it did three years go.

The government is alarmed by the increased number of migrants arriving in Spain after Rome prevented boats carrying migrants to dock at Italian ports, which was the main entry point to the EU for irregular migrants after the so-called Balkan route was closed in 2016. Who is pulling Merkel’s strings then?