by
N. Peter Kramer
Ms Merkel met recently with more than a dozen colleague EU leaders. The last halt was in Warsaw, where she appeared alongside the leaders of the so called Visegrad Group, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungaria. The German Chancellor told them that she doesn’t accept that some EU countries say, ‘We don’t want to have Muslims at all, even if it’s necessary for humanitarian reasons’. The Visegrad leaders were not impressed and critisised her open-door policy for refugees.
Meanwhile, pressure is growing on Ms Merkel at home. In a recent survey, published by the Bild am Sonntag, 50% of the people surveyed said they opposed another term for her after the elections in October 2017. In turn, 42% would like her to stand again next year.
The results marks a drop in support for her. A similar survey last November found that 48% opposed a fourth term while 45% were in favour. Ms Merkel’s popularity has slumped amid mounting criticism of her refugee policy following a series of attacks in Germany, two by asylum seekers who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS).
Within the German governing coalition, new calls for limiting the number of refugees entering Germany are emerging.
Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, the head of Ms Merkel’s center-left coalition party, the socialist SPD, voiced support for a refugee cap. ‘There is something called an upper-limit’, he said. ‘That is the ability of our country to integrate’. In her own party, especially in the powerful Bavarian right wing called CSU, the call for limiting the number of refugees sounds louder and louder.
But Chancellor Merkel has yet to say whether she will seek another term. And it doesn’t look like she will do that soon. Her mission is not over yet…
