Fading Clout: Most Germans 'No Longer Support' Merkel's Refugee Policy

EUROPE 12:12 09.05.2016

At least 60 percent of Germans currently do not support the open-door policy on migrants pursued by the country's Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose approval rating continues to plummet, according to RT.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's approval rating shows no sign of improving due to her open-door refugee policy; the latest poll reveals that at least 60 percent of Germans believe that Islam has no place in their country, RT correspondent Peter Oliver reported.

He recalled that when the refugees had begun to arrive in Germany, they were received with open arms. But when the number of Muslim refugees grew to hundreds of thousands, the attitude of German society to Islam changed dramatically.

Many residents in Berlin, for example, now live in a permanent state of fear, according to Oliver.

"Now life will change for everyone. We are afraid that something will happen: an explosion or something like that. There are many Muslims here, and they cannot be tracked," he quoted one resident of Berlin as saying.

Ursula Bachhuber, a member of the right-wing, populist Eurosceptic political party Alternative for Germany, said in turn that they even do not know who is coming into their country.

"These refugees come from all over the world, including Kosovo, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Namely, we do not know who enters our country amid Daesh threats to seize Europe," she said.

According to opinion polls, the refugee crisis has already affected the popularity ratings of Chancellor Merkel and her party Christian Democratic Union (SPD), as well as the ratings of her partners in the ruling coalition.

Andreas von Bulow of the Social Democratic Party of Germany placed the blame squarely on Merkel's migration policy, which he said may finally lead to unpredictable consequences.

"It was Chancellor Merkel who invited refugees without consulting the German government, her fellow party members or the leaders of other European countries. And now she suddenly makes an about-face, not even thinking about the implications," he pointed out.

Earlier, Merkel warned of the resurgence of nationalism in Germany, saying that "either we protect the external borders of Europe and we do it together, or we return to nationalism."

Meanwhile, Professor Peter Schulze from the University of Goettingen said that the overwhelming majority of German citizens no longer support Merkel's policy on refugees.

"The mistakes that she has made are obvious, especially when it comes to efforts to resolve the migration crisis. These steps taken by Merkel's government further undermined public confidence in the country's leadership," he said.

Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving their war-torn countries of origin in North Africa and the Middle East for the comparably stable and wealthy EU member states.

Over a million refugees arrived in Germany alone last year. The European Commission stated that the current immigration crisis is the biggest since the Second World War.

Fading Clout: Most Germans 'No Longer Support' Merkel's Refugee Policy

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‘If Merkel wants refugee labor, let them fly to Germany on Lufthansa!’

Published time: 8 May, 2016 10:44Edited time: 8 May, 2016 12:25

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© Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
Europe wants a restrictive policy on refugees because small countries like Austria cannot handle unlimited number of arrivals, Laszlo Maracz, assistant professor of European studies at the University of Amsterdam, told RT.
TrendsEU refugee & migrant influx

Tensions are rising at the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy. Earlier, Austria announced it was putting up fences at one of the busiest routes between the two countries in anticipation of a large influx of migrants. Italy and Germany are opposed to Austria's plan.

RT: Do you think we’ll see more countries start to lock down their borders?

Laszlo Maracz: Basically, a number of countries already have installed a border controlling regime. This can be tightened further, I think. But the most important thing is whether the external borders of Europe – the Schengen borders - will be protected. And we see that after a failing Greece, now we have a failing Italy. Italy is clearly the weakest element in this chain. So, I think Italy should reconsider to leave the Schengen zone because it is not ready or not able to protect its borders.

RT: What do you think has been thought of before? The Schengen zone, this territory of the number of EU nations that allowed people in the EU to move in and out without being stopped. It has been in place so many years now. Why do you think there was no any kind of preparation for this?

LM: I don’t know. What I can see is that some countries have been benefiting from this human trafficking - like Greece, Turkey – receiving all these euros from Berlin and Brussels. Italy also made a good business out of this in the past year. By closing the Brenner Pass they might lose the business and the refugees might be stranded in Italy.

RT: But it’s not as though those countries have been attracting these people coming in. Italy and Greece and a number of other countries have suffered with the number of migrants just arriving, they’ve had to cope on their own until now…

LM: Of course, they could have asked for help but they were not ready to do so. The Italian border guard has been acting actually more like a rescue team, which is understandable because of the human tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea. But on the other hand, their legal duty is to protect the borders of Europe. So, if countries are not willing or ready to do so, then the question is: should Europe intervene or should other countries like Austria have the right to close, for example, the Brenner Pass and erect its own border protection in the heart of Europe?

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Alexander Markovics, spokesperson, Generation Identity (Identitarian movement) told RT: "Barbed wire is not a scaremongering but simply political realism, since we have seen the terrorist attacks in Brussels,


in Paris and the so-called ‘Shame of Cologne’ when more than a thousand refugees raped and sexually harassed women, so barbed wire is the only solution to guarantee the security in Europe."

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RT: They’ve kind of stuck now: on the one hand, Austria is going it alone and Brussels and other EU countries can’t really turn around and support Austria…It would just open the gates for others to do it?

LM: I don’t think Austria is alone. We have seen the Visegrad four countries building a really important massive robust block protecting Europe. The Balkan route has been closed because of the Visegrad countries - Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakian and Austria- have been cooperating. So, I think if Austria will be in need, I don’t think the Visegrad countries will leave Austria alone because Austria has also supported these countries in closing the Balkan route.

RT: What next? Where is this going to take Europe?

LM: I think the citizens of Europe want to have a restrictive policy. Because it is quite clear that small countries like Austria and the Netherlands cannot have unlimitedly many refugees or migrants pouring in.

That’s impossible. We ask for a more soft policy and more restrictions. If countries are in need of labor force like the Germans have said all the time, then they should go to the refugee and migrant camps and pick up these people with Lufthansa. But to have this stream of illegal migrants wandering through Europe and bringing a lot of insecurity, I think that’s not right way to go. The leaders in Brussels they speak about the symbolic value of the Brenner Pass, the symbolic value of Schengen, but we are a bit tired of symbols, we want to have concrete actions, we want to have a restrictive policy, we want our leaders to show that they are in control of these issues.

‘If Merkel wants refugee labor, let them fly to Germany on Lufthansa!’

I'm glad to see the German people waking up to the reality of invasions posing as "humanitarian crises".

Germany to process over one million asylum claims in 2016

Germany's migration agency says it expects to process more than a million asylum applications in 2016. New arrivals are falling, but a backlog of old cases after last year's record influx is keeping authorities busy.

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The head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said Monday it still had to work through some 430,000 applications that are pending.

BAMF President Frank-Jürgen Weise told reporters in Nuremberg the agency was also preparing to process around half a million new claims from migrants arriving this year. Meanwhile, bids are also expected from as many as 300,000 other migrants who have registered in Germany but haven't yet submitted their claims.

Weise warned that longer processing times could turn more people against refugees and against BAMF's work.

"The long wait for people who have fled is very difficult," he said. "If we drag these applications into next year, my concern is there'll be more criticism directed at the refugee issues and the work of our agency."

Germany took in some 1.1 million migrants in 2015 - the largest influx since World War II. However, it can often take months before new arrivals can formally apply for asylum.

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Many refugees hoping to reach western Europe are camping out at Idomeni at the Greek-Macedonian border

Expanding efforts

In a bid to deal with the backlog of old applications, as well as new claims, BAMF has plans to speed-up its processing of asylum seekers at new arrival centers around the country. By mid-year they hope to have centers set up in each state.

More than 60,000 applications were lodged with BAMF in April - up nearly 125 percent over the same month last year, but only 1.6 percent higher than March. The largest number of claims (25,791) came from Syrians, followed by Iraqis, Afghans and Iranians.

Currently, some asylum applications - for example from Syrian refugees - can be processed within a week. But people from more "complex countries," where the reason for flight may not be as clear, have to wait an average of three to six months to hear back about their claims.

BAMF also aims to expand its workforce to handle the extra work. In early 2015, the authority had around 2,300 staff. It currently has 6,700 employees, with plans to expand that to 7,300 staff.
Drop in new arrivals

Despite high numbers of asylum applications, the number of people actually arriving in Germany has dropped significantly since the start of the year.

According to figures provided by the Interior Ministry on Monday, April saw some 16,000 new arrivals, down from around 21,000 in March, 61,000 in February and 92,000 in January.

One of the main reasons for the decline is the closure of the Balkan migrant route in early March, which left thousands of refugees stranded in Greece.

Germany to process over one million asylum claims in 2016

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‘If Merkel wants refugee labor, let them fly to Germany on Lufthansa!’

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And deport all the young men trespassing on EU soil. And turn them back before they set foot, do it agian if needed be and again till they tire and decide to be their own countryman, on their own soil.