Merkel backtracks on open borders
The move follows a backlash to the chancellor’s decision to welcome refugees.
By Matthew Karnitschnig
9/13/15, 6:29 PM CET
Updated 9/13/15, 11:26 PM CET
BERLIN — Germany, overwhelmed by an unprecedented wave of refugees, reintroduced controls along its border with Austria, in a desperate attempt to defuse a crisis that is testing the limits of European solidarity.
The surprise move, announced late Sunday afternoon by Interior Minister Thomas de Mazière, marks a significant escalation of the crisis. Berlin has effectively suspended the EU’s open borders treaty, which many view as the embodiment of European integration.
“Germany has shown a willingness to help, but this must not be overstretched,” de Mazière said in a statement to the press, adding that the decision was made in consultation with Vienna and that it was a “signal to Europe.”
Germany expects to take in up to 800,000 asylum seekers this year, quadruple the number in 2014. It is calling on other European countries to accept more refugees, a demand that has met with stiff resistance across much of the continent. Some countries have refused on cultural and religious grounds, while others cite concerns that Islamic terrorists could be posing as refugees. That has left a handful of countries, including Germany, Austria and Sweden, bearing much of the burden.
The Austrian-German border, which stretches along the southern and eastern frontier of the state of Bavaria, has been the main entry point for asylum seekers to Germany.
It is also the most important economic corridor in Europe, linking Italy and southeastern Europe with Germany and the rest of Europe north of the Alps. Berlin’s willingness to erect border controls there, risking serious economic repercussions, suggests the crisis has strained Germany’s resources to a much greater degree than it has acknowledged.
Domino effect
If Austria, which shares a long border traversing northern Italy and several central European countries, follows suit, much of Europe would be cut off from the so-called Schengen zone of passport-free travel.
Austria has reintroduced some border controls with Hungary and suspended rail traffic between the two countries.
Late Sunday, Austrian officials signaled they may have no choice but to follow Germany’s lead by introducing stricter controls. Tens of thousands of refugees arrived in Austria over the weekend enroute to Germany. Austria doesn’t have the resources to cope with such an influx, officials warned.
“We have only one option and that is to act in concert with Germany,” Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told state television. “It’s clear that Germany has closed its borders.” Europe’s system for handling the crisis had “failed,” Kurz said.
Some European policy makers are warning of a domino effect that could hasten the collapse of the entire Schengen system with devastating consequences for Europe as a whole.
The European Commission, attempting to dispel those concerns, issued a statement late Sunday noting that the measures were “temporary” and were allowed under exceptional circumstances by the Schengen treaty. Chancellor Angela Merkel informed Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker of Germany’s decision on Sunday afternoon, according to the statement.
De Mazière, who took no questions from reporters, said the border controls would “initially” apply to the Austrian border, where most asylum seekers enter Germany.
Berlin’s decision is a stunning about-face by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The remark was a warning shot towards Eastern Europe.
Berlin has repeatedly demanded that other European counties, especially those in the east, accept more refugees. So far, however, the calls have gone unheeded, as countries such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland have resisted accepting more than a token number.
For those countries, open borders with Germany allow them unfettered access to Europe’s largest economy, a key economic advantage. Last week, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel noted the importance of the Schengen agreement to the region’s economy, an unusual threat that underscored Berlin’s frustration with the refusal of governments there to do more.
Big mistake
Vienna has been even more outspoken in its criticizing its eastern neighbors. Over the weekend, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said Hungary’s treatment of the refugees recalled the policies of the Nazis. Hungary is erecting a fence to keep refugees from crossing over its border with Serbia and many asylum seekers have accused Hungarian authorities of mistreating them.
Despite such frustrations, Berlin’s decision is a stunning about-face by Chancellor Angela Merkel. In recent weeks, she has appeared to encourage refugees to come to Germany, declaring as recently as Friday that there was “no upper limit” for asylum seekers and encouraging Germans to be flexible in dealing with the influx.
While such declarations have made Merkel the champion of many refugees, her open-door policy has provoked resistance among conservatives in her own coalition. That’s particularly true in Bavaria, which has born the brunt of the crisis. On Saturday alone, about 13,000 refugees arrived at Munich’s main station, pushing the city’s infrastructure for handling the arrivals to the brink.
Horst Seehofer, leader of the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, attacked the chancellor in unusually harsh language in an interview with Der Spiegel published Friday. Seehofer called Merkel’s decision to let in more refugees “a mistake that will keep us busy for a long time.”
Other senior members of the party were more blunt, warning that Germany had “lost control” of the situation.
Berlin’s hasty move to lower barriers at the Austrian border on Sunday would appear to be a tacit acknowledgement by the chancellor that her critics were right.
Merkel has characterized her decision last month to suspend the so-called Dublin rules, which require refugees to apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter, as a humanitarian gesture. The move was meant to allow thousands of Syrian refugees who had already arrived in Germany to remain, while guaranteeing safe passage to scores more stranded in Hungary.
Yet government officials acknowledge privately that they didn’t anticipate the resonance the announcement would have.
Refugees from flashpoints across the Middle East and northern Africa interpreted the decision as a sign that Germany would take all comers, an impression Berlin has tried in vain to dispel.
Berlin insists the Dublin rules are still in effect, but Hungary and other countries on the front lines have largely ignored those pleas.
http://www.politico.eu/article/merkel-migrant-refugee-crisis-germany-imposes-border-controls/
