German Voters Batter Merkel over Migrant Policy

Voters in three German states have today given their verdict on Angela Merkel's open door policy , Merkel's Christian Democrats have suffered heavy losses in the vote.

"These results are a serious rebuke for Merkel and the most pronounced protest vote we've seen so far," said Holger Schmieding, an analyst at Berenberg Bank.

"The result will increase the noise within the CDU and constrain the government's options on migrants and Greece, but Merkel's chancellorship is not at risk," said Carsten Nickel at Teneo Intelligence.

Responding to voters' fears, she has promised to stem the flow of migrants to Germany, and is trying to convince Turkey to help - and other EU partners to share the burden. In the last few weeks, the numbers of migrants entering Germany have fallen.
www.reuters.com...

With the migrant flow expected to pick up as the weather improves it remains to be seen how Frau Merkel will square the circle of dealing with the migrant crisis while appeasing her unhappy populace before next year's federal election in which she intends to stand for her fourth term as Chancellor of Germany

a reply to: gortex

This is what happens when you stop listening to your own people.

It's not that people don't want to help the refugees. They just don't want to be overrun by them either. And that is what this stupid woman has gone and allowed. Europe could and should have set up camps in Greece and the other border countries and funded them from the entire union. There should have been far more pressure on Middle Eastern countries to allow them in too.

It is a stain on those nation's already poor human rights reputations that they forced the people of Syria and Iraq west into Europe.

This crisis is also karma on the EU for so vocally wanting Assad gone, then refusing to admit they are wrong when Russia intervened and now just sitting on their laurels when Putin asked for help to get the nation back under control.

They're trying to work with Turkey. Don't they mean to say that Turkey is blackmailing them for Europe to pay them a fortune to hold back some of the invading force?

Borders need to be closed.

a reply to: Unity_99

Exactly. Turkey may well have motives of their own, with their designs on open borders in Europe from Turkey. ...


Geeziz didn't any of these people play Risk, or Diplomacy?
It won't end " touchy Feely " in a good way imo

Let's not forget to mention that the anti immigration party AfD won big.

originally posted by: Unity_99
They're trying to work with Turkey. Don't they mean to say that Turkey is blackmailing them for Europe to pay them a fortune to hold back some of the invading force?

Borders need to be closed.

Time to build a big beautiful wall....oops, that's right, Germany already had one of those.

a reply to: gortex

Why can't our elected officials just execute the will of the people and leave their agendas on the sideline? I suppose it is of some comfort to see that other countries deal with this crap as much as we do in the United States. I feel for the German people.

Their country is being destroyed by the very people sworn to protect them.

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: Unity_99

Exactly. Turkey may well have motives of their own, with their designs on open borders in Europe from Turkey. ...


Geeziz didn't any of these people play Risk, or Diplomacy?
It won't end " touchy Feely " in a good way imo

Turkey is like Pakistan. They are on the boundary between two radically different cultures. They have to be two-faced in order to keep peace with both sides. Look too Western and they'll get bombed by the fanatics. Look too Islamic and they'll get locked out of support funds for fighting fanatics.

a reply to: stormcell

True, but wouldn't joining the EU really take the scales overtly to the West?

I used to live in the vicinity for a year in Greece, even there in 1990 there was tremendous anti west sentiment and with Turkey as the most recent Caliphate of substance, it really causes me pause.

A lot of things to come are going to batter Merkel and the EU overall. My impression is that there's going to be a throwback at the times when terrorism was a common thing in Europe. Something like the 70s and early 80s. During those times, terrorism was attributed to soviet funded groups, which were in reality funded by the European elites themselves to justify their criminal activities against state and democracy and to justify the excessive invasive usage of intelligence means targeted against the European population itself.
This time though terrorism might be slightly less controlled by such people. As a matter of fact it may be already out of their control. In particular the situation with various arab and northern african countries, which have been turned into a hotbed for terrorists. Moreover the EU-Turkey "migrants" deal which has absolutely nothing to do with migrants, and is absolutely nowhere close to be a deal (more like a blackmail) will end up damaging the EU-Turkey already shaky relationship.