Despite grand promises before February’s election to reject “all attempts at illegal entry without exception”—and the more recent pledge to defy a court’s ruling against migrant pushbacks—Friedrich Merz’s Germany remains very open.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, of the centre-right CDU, this week announced that a further 2,000 Afghan migrants are set to be flown into the country, stressing that “where we have made legally binding admission commitments, we will of course keep them.”
Alice Weidel, leader of the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), noted that continued flights are taking place while officials from the CSU, the Bavarian sister party of Merz’s CDU, “lie to voters” on national television about stricter border controls. CSU leader Markus Söder said ahead of the recent election that only migrants who paid their own way would be granted entry to Bavaria.
Das CDU-Ticket ins Sozialsystem: Außenminister Wadephul sieht sich in der Pflicht, weitere 2.500 Afghanen per Expressflug nach Deutschland zu holen. Während CSU-Söder durch Talkshows tingelt und die Wähler belügt. #DeshalbAfD#NurnochAfDpic.twitter.com/88lsVwTIfB
Talk about getting tough has also been contradicted by reports that many sections of the German border can be crossed with ease. A Euractiv journalist revealed on Thursday that he crossed the German border with Poland seven times at different locations before finally running into a police control point.
This journalist described the supposed crackdown on crossings as looking more like “window-dressing,” adding that by the time police finally flagged him down,
I could have already brought truckloads of asylum-seekers into the country without much effort if I had wanted to.
To continue distracting from the reality of the border situation, Merz’s government announced plans to make it easier to declare certain countries of origin safe on Wednesday, a measure that would—in principle—make it easier to reject dubious asylum claims. Voters would likely not flinch were this measure proven to be ineffective, too.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
