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Europe
o u l d E u r o p e s r e f u g e e c r i s i s b e t h e u n d
o i n g o f A n g e l a
e r k e l ?
ByAnthony Faiola February 4 at 7:00 AM
BERLIN She was Time magazines Person of the Year, a
compassionate leader who opened Germanys door to more tha
million desperate migrants. FrauNeinbecame Frau Nice. There was
even talk of a Nobel Peace Prize.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel is suffering a harsh
reversal of fortune, confronting a political backlash that is
isolati
her both at home and across Europe. As Merkel is pushed into a
corner on migrant policy, political pundits are sounding a
once-unthinkable alarm, warning that her job may be at risk if
she does not quickly change course.
I dont think there is any question anymore, said Werner J.
Patzelt, a political analyst at Technical University Dresden.
Angela Merkel is really in trouble.
For Merkel, the bad news just keeps getting worse. In the
aftermath of attacks in Cologne on New Years Eve in which
asylum-seekers allegedly assaulted dozens of German women a new
poll found that 40 percent of respondents now want
o resign. Rebel lawmakers in her ruling coalition are openly
criticizing her. The head of the Christian Social Union in
Bavar
formerly a staunch ally is even threatening to sue the
government if it does not curb the influx.
A new German poll says 81 percent of those asked think the
government mishandled the refugee crisis and Merkels approva
ating has fallen to 46 percent, the lowest since August,
2011.
Known for ruling by opinion poll, Merkel has seemed to backtrack
on aspects of her open-door policy in recent days
nsisting, for instance, that most people seeking refuge in
Germany should go back home after peace comes to countries such
Syria and Iraq.
Her cabinet on Wednesday backed new measures aimed at delaying
refugees from bringing in close relatives for 2 years and
declaring three North African countries as safe, making it far
harder for asylum seekers from those countries to win refuge
tatus
But she is still mostly sticking to her guns and refusing to
close Germanys doors. It is presenting a chancellor who first
cam
o power when George W. Bush was still the U.S. president with
one of the toughest choices of her decade-long tenure:
whether to keep holding up the banner of humanitarianism or to
be politically expedient.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/anthony-faiolahttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/asylum-seekers-suspected-in-rash-of-new-years-eve-assaults/2016/01/08/af1ed4c8-b584-11e5-8abc-d09392edc612_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/people/anthony-faiolahttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe
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Merkel has become a prisoner of her own politics, said Jrgen
Falter, a political scientist at Mainz University. He added,
hink the likelihood is about 60 percent that her policies dont
work out and she throws in the towel.
t is an unusually tight spot for the Iron Chancellor, a woman
who rose to be the de facto leader of Europe by driving hard
bargains on rescues for bankrupt Greece. In the process, she
elevated Germany to the zenith of its post-World War II power.
But the refugee crisis has damaged her profoundly, underscoring
the high price of compassion in a risk-averse world. A natiowhose
World War II past made it fully aware of the dangers of xenophobia,
modern Germany was leading by example in the
21st century, becoming a beacon of hope for desperate foreigners
fleeing war and poverty. Merkel staked her job on upholdi
what she likes to call European values in effect, that the
progressive people of wealthy Europe should not turn their bac
on the human right to sanctuary for Syrians, Iraqis and
others.
But she has run into serious stumbling blocks. The attacks in
Cologne did not help her cause, nor did the November massacr
n Paris that occurred after militants entered Europe disguised
as migrants. Additionally, a large percentage of the new come
t turns out, were not really escaping war at all but seeking to
leverage German kindness to build lives away from places
uch as North Africa, the Balkans and Pakistan.
She also erred by effectively promising her countrymen something
that she has thus far been unable to deliver: A pledge that
other nations in Europe would take in more migrants and start to
share Germanys burden.
nstead of pitching in, countries across Europe are barring their
doors. A voluntary European program to legally resettle
efugees has failed, with nations mostly refusing to accept
newcomers from the Middle East and elsewhere.
n fact, both publicly and privately, European politicians long
opposed to welcoming refugees are reveling in the schadenfre
of Merkels comeuppance. Last week, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav
Sobotka announced that a bloc of anti-refugee nation
also including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia would hold their own
meeting ahead of a key E.U. summit in February t
discuss alternative solutions to the crisis. Suggesting Berlin
has gone too soft, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico scoffed
tha
migrants have become a protected species in Germany.
Meanwhile, the EU finally approved a key $3 billion deal on
Wednesday in which Turkey would crack down on the human
raffickers ferrying thousands of migrants to Europe via Greece
every week. But Turkish demands for more money raises
questions about how quickly change may happen on the ground.
Add it all together, and Merkel is in a precarious spot. If she
sticks to her principles, it means Germany stands virtually
alone
Europe as a haven for migrants. That is a burden that the
Germans initially welcoming to the waves of refugees are
ncreasingly reluctant to shoulder.
Yet Merkel also can take stock in a few things going in her
favor. Wolfgang Schuble, her famously strict finance minister,
h
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/griff-wittehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/european-nations-bar-the-doors-to-more-migrants/2016/01/21/cab2ff50-c04e-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html
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been floated by some as a possible successor. But insiders say
he may be reluctant to steal the job from Merkel and is not
obviously angling for the post. And given her still formidable
influence, any move by her critics for a no-confidence vote in
Parliament remains an uphill battle for now.
However, if her Christian Democrats score a resounding defeat in
the March local elections, the pressure on Merkel to chang
course or step aside could grow to a clamor. But the question
then would be whether Merkel is willing to go as far as closing
German borders something that could put a nail in the coffin of
the open-border policies once hailed as the single
largestaccomplishment of the European Union.
She is extremely worried about the state of the public mood, but
she also sees a bigger picture, said Stefan Kornelius, fore
editor of the Sddeutsche Zeitung. It feels like she is fighting
for the European soul.
Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin and Karla Adam in London
contributed to this report.
Read more
Fear and paranoia lead Finns to form vigilante groups that
protect women from asylum seekers
German chancellor pledges crackdown on criminal asylum
seekers
European countries agree to strict new steps to secure
borders
Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Anthony Faiola is The Post's Berlin bureau chief. Faiola joined
the Post in 1994, since the
reporting for the paper from six continents and serving as
bureau chief in Tokyo, Buenos
Aires, New York and London.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/worldhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-third-body-found-in-the-rubble-of-wednesdays-massive-police-raid/2015/11/20/bdbc870a-8ee7-11e5-934c-a369c80822c2_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/german-chancellor-pledges-crackdown-on-criminal-asylum-seekers/2016/01/09/d2a2d167-6c2f-4ff5-bc50-8e50ef04175e_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/fear-and-paranoia-lead-finns-to-form-vigilante-groups-that-protect-women-from-asylum-seekers/2016/01/23/c16f8646-b943-11e5-85cd-5ad59bc19432_story.html
