The defiant group of ten took matters into their own hands late last week. The countries held a refugee conference and did not invite the chancellor. The countries all restrict the number of refugees they will take. Merkel is furious but there is not a damn thing she can do about it. Curiously, Merkel Faces a Dilemma because Germany is already the beneficiary of Austria's actions.

The decision by Austria and nine Balkan states to unilaterally choke off the flow of migrants across their borders has prompted fury in Berlin, which fears it could torpedo Chancellor Merkel's drive for an EU-wide solution to the refugee crisis.

But the new border controls have ironically had one positive effect for Ms Merkel: the number of asylum-seekers crossing the border into Germany has plunged. On Wednesday there were only 140, compared with more than 2,000 a day at the start of last week. German TV showed empty reception centres in the Bavarian town of Passau, near the Austrian border, which has been a key entry point for the hundreds of thousands of new arrivals to Germany.