BERLIN: An 11th hour deal clinched by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to rescue her fragile government by limiting migrant arrivals immediately ran into European resistance yesterday, with neighbouring Austria vowing to “protect” its borders, reports AFP.

In high-stakes crisis talks overnight, Merkel put to rest for now a dangerous row with a longtime rival, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, that had threatened the survival of her shaky 100-day-old coalition.

A relieved-looking Merkel, who has been in power since 2005, emerged from the late-night negotiations hailing a “very good compromise” that would “control” new arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers while upholding EU cooperation and values.

However criticism from Vienna and her junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats, threatened to throw a spanner in the works just as Germany hoped to emerge from a crippling weeks-long political standstill.