Merkel urged to shut ‘open door’ policy on refugees after Paris attacks
The co-ordinated assault in the French capital has fuelled a debate in Germany over Merkel’s welcoming approach to refugees and on how to pin down better intelligence about people entering the country.
The holder of a Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen from Friday night’s attacks passed through Greece in October, a Greek minister said, and another suspected attacker was thought to have entered Europe the same way.
“The days of uncontrolled immigration and illegal entry can’t continue just like that. Paris changes everything,” Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
His comments came after the Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer, leader of Merkel’s sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), urged better protection of Germany’s frontier and called for stricter controls at Europe’s external borders.
“The CSU stands behind the chancellor, but it would be good if Angela Merkel acknowledged that the opening of the border for an unlimited period of time was a mistake,” Soeder said.
The Bavarian security cabinet was set to meet to discuss steps in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel have both warned against making any hasty links between the assault and the refugee debate. German officials indicated that Merkel saw no reason to revise her stance on refugees in the wake of the Paris attacks.
However, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence services sounded the alarm, calling for “orderly procedures” regarding the handling of the daily entry of thousands of refugees and warning extremists could exploit the sometimes chaotic migration situation.
While German police are currently conducting passport checks at border crossings and in border areas, thousands of refugees are thought to be coming into the country without any checks.
Soeder said a government had a duty to care for its own people as a priority, adding Germany needed a migration strategy with an official cap to limit the numbers of new arrivals.
If Europe’s external borders could not be protected, Germany had to secure its own frontier, he said. This could also include unconventional steps like closing border crossings, Soeder said.
Germany has registered some 760,000 people entering the country from January to October, and government officials expect the number of asylum seekers to rise further until year-end.
“One million is way too much. Conceivable at best is an orderly immigration of between 200,000 and 300,000 people,” Soeder said.
Merkel has repeatedly refused to announce a national cap, saying there cannot be a limit to the constitutionally enshrined right to asylum. But she has said Europe should think about agreeing on joint quotas for refugees.
German officials also played down prospects of Germany getting involved in any military response after French President François Hollande described the attacks as an “act of war”.
Anticipating a debate over a bigger German military role, top-selling daily Bild asked: “Do we now have to go to war?”
Reuters
12 inspiring images of peace from the aftermath of the Paris attacks https://t.co/mVVFdtz4QF pic.twitter.com/r8FgntcrxL
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 15, 2015
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