Merkel's Open Door
Once a strong advocate for refugees, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a hard decision: toughen her stance on the crisis or facilitate an influx of migrants. The former grants her the support of the frustrated, increasingly rightist German public; the latter gives her moral prestige on the international stage and corresponds with Germany’s legacy on human rights.
Surprisingly, there are a few benefits from taking in more refugees. The German demographic has reached the point where adults cannot reproduce quickly enough to create a working class population that supports the elderly. The unemployment rate in Germany is the lowest in Europe for a reason: there are not enough millennials to take industrial jobs. According to a report by University of California at Berkeley, Germany currently has about 612,000 job vacancies with 43,000 open positions in IT alone. More than 45 percent of German employers struggle to recruit qualified employees and believe that an influx of educated individuals could bolster the economy and support the aging German population who is already undergoing decay.
However, Germany does not have a mechanism to control the migrants or apportion them to other European states. In 2015, Merkel suspended the Schengen area—European states that have abolished passport control at mutual borders. This solution is at best temporary and forces the issue onto other countries in Eaastern Europe. Her response has also spurred the rise of extremist parties across Germany, especially in the southeastern provinces. In fact, the alt-right Alternative for Germany has surpassed the vote threshold necessary for seats in the Bundestag, and leftist parties like Die Linke (The Left) and The Greens have disappeared amidst popular anxiety. To make matters worse, the Christian Social Union—a long-time partner of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party—has alienated itself from the Chancellor and now sides with more nationalist policies.
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán famously accused Merkel of her “moral imperialism”, claiming that her promotion of human rights does not appeal to most of Germany’s neighbors. The Visengrad group, the coalition of European states advocating for strengthened borders, hopes to create a “Fortress Europe”. The construction of fences has and will never impede the constant flow of migrants. When Germany forged an EU-Turkey Pact in 2016, desperate Syrian refugees fled from the conflict by using unsafe methods, bypassing the land border between Turkey and Bulgaria. Many boarded flimsy boats and swam across the Aegean, while others joined Libyans in the sea journey to Sicily, Italy.
What do Central and Eastern European countries hate about these refugees? Most of these states, in contrast with Denmark and Sweden, lack the infrastructure to support thousands of refugees. The rural areas of Hungary and Austria cannot support many migrants, even when they are only transitioning to Western Europe. Nor can Merkel—despite her graceful and altruistic personality—continue disregarding the rise of dissatisfied voices.
To resolve the issue while still upholding its humanitarian Verantwortung, Germany must delegate more responsibility at the European level. I recommend that Jean-Claude Juncker (leader of the European Commission) spearhead the establishment of a European Refugee Union. This union would receive funding from the European Union and consist of representatives from each state. Instead of setting tough quotas, the union would meet to appropriate funding to states with many refugees and collectively decide the allocation of the migrants across Europe. The bureaucratic organization would allow for the efficient registration and processing of refugees, even in centers outside of the EU.
To ensure that the Refugee Union gains legitimacy and respect amongst the migrants, Europe must change the Dublin Agreement and make admission to a European state contingent on registration with the Union. Merkel once said that “we feel bound to the Christian image of humanity.” It’s about time that the “we” be expanded to include all of Europe.