Merkel Reverses Long-Held Stance on Migrants in Bid to Save Her Government
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany leaving a meeting of the Christian Democratic Union in Berlin early Monday. “We share a common goal in migration policy,” the party said in a statement. “We want to order, control and limit migration to Germany.”Omer Messinger/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Katrin Bennhold and Melissa Eddy
It was a spectacular turnabout for a leader who was once seen as the standard-bearer of the liberal European order but who has come under intense pressure at home over her migration policy.
Ms. Merkel will limp on as chancellor as a result of her move, an agreement with conservatives in her coalition government. For how long is unclear as populism and nationalism are taking root — fast — in the mainstream of German politics.
Migration to Europe Is Down Sharply. So Is It Still a ‘Crisis’?
Despite the claims of far-right leaders, the number of undocumented migrants arriving each year is back to pre-crisis levels — and has been for some time.
June 27, 2018
“Her political capital is depleted,” said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, director of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund and a former presidential speechwriter. “We are well into the final chapter of the Merkel era.”
clash over migration between Ms. Merkel and her own interior minister, Horst Seehofer, and almost toppled the coalition government she leads.
Horst Seehofer, the German interior minister and the leader of the Bavarian party Christian Social Union, was to meet the chancellor in Berlin on Monday in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement.Christof Stache/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
to Germany in 2015 and 2016, nationalism and populism have made a comeback in a country that has long tried to escape the shadows of its past. Migration has become the topic that will most define her legacy, and it has become a test for German democracy itself.
The number of new migrant arrivals are down to a small fraction of what they were. Still, the anti-immigrant far right has been gaining ground, nudging the entire political spectrum rightward — most strikingly, the Bavarian conservatives led by Mr. Seehofer, who face state elections in October.
Migrants Are on the Rise Around the World, and Myths About Them Are Shaping Attitudes
Immigrants have often delivered economic benefits to the countries taking them in, but they have also upended the politics of the industrialized world — where the native-born often exaggerate their numbers and their needs.
June 20, 2018
Journalists waited outside the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Union in Berlin on Sunday as its leaders held marathon talks.Omer Messinger/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
across the Continent, and ushering in a more fractured era in German politics.
In last September’s election, Ms. Merkel’s conservatives recorded their worst postwar result. It took two tries, negotiations with six other parties, nearly six months and a lot of concessions to political rivals to form a government.
In the vote, the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, emerged as the third-strongest force in the German Parliament and the main opposition party.
Its rise has helped shrink the support base of the once mighty Social Democrats, and opened a rift in Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, or C.D.U., between those who stand by the chancellor’s liberal worldview and those who want her gone and yearn for a more traditional conservatism.
Above all, the AfD’s rise has sharply shifted the powerful and already very conservative state of Bavaria to the right. Mr. Seehofer’s tough stand on migrants is seen in part as a bid to protect his party’s right flank.
Follow Katrin Bennhold and Melissa Eddy on Twitter:@kbennhold and @meddynyt.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.
2h ago
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany leaving a meeting of the Christian Democratic Union in Berlin early Monday. “We share a common goal in migration policy,” the party said in a statement. “We want to order, control and limit migration to Germany.”Omer Messinger/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Katrin Bennhold and Melissa Eddy
- July 2, 2018
It was a spectacular turnabout for a leader who was once seen as the standard-bearer of the liberal European order but who has come under intense pressure at home over her migration policy.
Ms. Merkel will limp on as chancellor as a result of her move, an agreement with conservatives in her coalition government. For how long is unclear as populism and nationalism are taking root — fast — in the mainstream of German politics.
Migration to Europe Is Down Sharply. So Is It Still a ‘Crisis’?
Despite the claims of far-right leaders, the number of undocumented migrants arriving each year is back to pre-crisis levels — and has been for some time.
June 27, 2018
“Her political capital is depleted,” said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, director of the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund and a former presidential speechwriter. “We are well into the final chapter of the Merkel era.”
clash over migration between Ms. Merkel and her own interior minister, Horst Seehofer, and almost toppled the coalition government she leads.
Horst Seehofer, the German interior minister and the leader of the Bavarian party Christian Social Union, was to meet the chancellor in Berlin on Monday in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement.Christof Stache/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
to Germany in 2015 and 2016, nationalism and populism have made a comeback in a country that has long tried to escape the shadows of its past. Migration has become the topic that will most define her legacy, and it has become a test for German democracy itself.
The number of new migrant arrivals are down to a small fraction of what they were. Still, the anti-immigrant far right has been gaining ground, nudging the entire political spectrum rightward — most strikingly, the Bavarian conservatives led by Mr. Seehofer, who face state elections in October.
Migrants Are on the Rise Around the World, and Myths About Them Are Shaping Attitudes
Immigrants have often delivered economic benefits to the countries taking them in, but they have also upended the politics of the industrialized world — where the native-born often exaggerate their numbers and their needs.
June 20, 2018
Journalists waited outside the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Union in Berlin on Sunday as its leaders held marathon talks.Omer Messinger/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
across the Continent, and ushering in a more fractured era in German politics.
In last September’s election, Ms. Merkel’s conservatives recorded their worst postwar result. It took two tries, negotiations with six other parties, nearly six months and a lot of concessions to political rivals to form a government.
In the vote, the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, emerged as the third-strongest force in the German Parliament and the main opposition party.
Its rise has helped shrink the support base of the once mighty Social Democrats, and opened a rift in Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, or C.D.U., between those who stand by the chancellor’s liberal worldview and those who want her gone and yearn for a more traditional conservatism.
Above all, the AfD’s rise has sharply shifted the powerful and already very conservative state of Bavaria to the right. Mr. Seehofer’s tough stand on migrants is seen in part as a bid to protect his party’s right flank.
Follow Katrin Bennhold and Melissa Eddy on Twitter:@kbennhold and @meddynyt.
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.
2h ago
we gonna talk about that, or nah. i find it more important than some fukkin tents
