Following Berlin’s recent move to restrict asylum-seeker entry, Angela Merkel cautioned that rigid migration policies may lead to the EU’s collapse, according to webangah News Agency.
When asked about new Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet decision, Merkel stated: “I don’t believe we can effectively combat illegal migration at the German-Austrian or German-Polish borders. I’ve always supported European solutions.”
The new policies announced by Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt earlier this month ban asylum applications at all of Germany’s land borders—a stark reversal from Merkel’s 2015 open-border approach. The law includes exemptions for children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups.
Merkel argued this measure threatens both free movement within the EU and the integrity of the Schengen Zone. She maintains any migration or travel reforms must be agreed upon at the EU level.
“Or else,” she warned, “we’ll likely witness Europe’s demise.”
Merkel’s 2015 policy faced fierce political backlash after over one million migrants entered Germany during peak refugee crisis years (2015-2016), with critics calling it “catastrophic.”
Germany remains the EU’s top asylum destination, receiving 237,000 applications in 2023—nearly a quarter of all requests in the bloc according to EU statistics.
