Key Merkel allies urging her to reverse open borders policy
Critics of German Chancellor Angela Merkel'ss open door policy are no longer confined to opposition or fringe parties. Members of her own governing coalition are calling on her to admit she made a mistake and drastically curtail the flow of refugees into the country.
"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 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 is expected to meet later on Sunday to discuss steps in the wake of the Paris attacks, in which the Foreign Ministry said one German citizen was among those killed.
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.
But the head of Germany's domestic intelligence services also 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.
The entire continent is blaming Merkel for the refugee crisis, but she has stubbornly refused to recognize that her open door policy has had enormously adverse consequences. The Paris attacks are only the latest. The smaller countries of Eastern Europe are being overwhelmed with newcomers that must be fed, clothed, and housed - even if many of them are moving on to northern European countries. The cultural, political, and financial upheaval in many EU countries would have been entirely avoidable if Merkel had listened to reason.
But reason and logic appear to have been abandoned by the chancellor who has now staked her political future on the German people accepting more than a million new citizens. What are the chances of a Paris-like attack happening in Berlin? They're a helluva lot better than they were before the immigrants began arriving.
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