Pied Piper of Berlin: Merkel's Migrant Policy Alienating Europe

An editorial in Deutsche Welle expresses German fears that its government's handling of the migrant crisis will lead other European countries to stop cooperating on key issues.

The future of European cooperation is threatened by Angela Merkel's insistence on forcing other European nations to follow Germany's course on issues such as the migrant crisis and Greek debt crisis, leading Germany to bear the weight of the unpopular decisions it has imposed, warned Deutsche Welle on Wednesday.

"There is was again, the German arrogance – and it is still that, even if the fight is for a noble goal," wrote Christoph Hasselbach, warning that the authority built by the German Chancellor during the Greek debt crisis was then spent by poor handling of the migrant crisis.

"She stood for the observance of rules, for solidarity, but also for the interests of European cohesion. However, she was willing to compromise if necessary. Her policy of stability didn't suit everybody, but even many of her critics could see that 'mom's' was good medicine," Hasselbach describes the mood after the conclusion of the Greek debt talks in July.

"All that was up to late summer, when Merkel uttered two fatal sentences on the developing flow of refugees: 'There are no upper limits,' and 'we can manage it,' both of which she holds to, to this day."

Merkel kept to her word by taking selfies with refugees, deciding unilaterally to break the Dublin regulations, shrugging at the loss of state border control, and then condemning countries which sought to protect their borders with fences, writes Hasselbach.

"If all this is not enough, she stood in front of other Europeans and explained that her personal view of things is the only morally right one."

"In other words: European partners should help Germany to absorb the consequences of a policy for which Merkel carries significant responsibility."

"Indeed, no-one claims that Merkel is responsible for the migration movement per se. But the pull to Europe has in any case got significantly stronger, and with it other European countries have to carry the burden against their will."

The political consequence of Merkel's unilateral action is "icy rejection" of her proposals at EU summits, and weakening support from erstwhile supporters such as French President Francois Hollande, Hasselbach writes.

Migrants sit in front of Budapest's Keleti (East) railway station on September 2, 2015

© AFP 2023 / ATTILA KISBENEDEK

"Hungarian President Victor Orban even openly calls the flow of refugees a 'German problem' and closes off his land. After the shift to the right in Poland, there will be no more concessions from there whatsoever. Even Swedish Prime Minister Lofven is under domestic pressure to close the borders." 

While her fiscal policy of austerity was able to prevail over the Greeks because European public opinion was mainly in agreement, "her ideas about a borderless Europe aren't only opposed by a majority in Germany, but for a long time already, a large majority in Europe." 

"Everybody is trying to save himself, even at the expense of others," says Hasselbach, warning that the German encouragement of refugees to come to Europe has dealt a critical blow to unity on the continent.