In rare test, Merkel to face down party rebels on refugees

File photo of German Chancellor Angela Merkel attending the Christian Social Union (CSU) party congress in Munich, Germany November 20, 2015. REUTERS/Michael Dalder/Files

BERLIN (Reuters) - In past years, Angela Merkel has been feted like a superstar at annual meetings of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, earning thunderous ovations for defending German interests in the euro crisis and facing down Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.

But a CDU congress in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe next week is shaping up to be a very different affair. Under intense pressure from conservative allies to reduce the flood of refugees into Germany, the 61-year-old chancellor faces the biggest test of her authority from within the party in years.