Daily Times

Many would like to see her fall. But Angela Merkel is not going anywhere. At least for now.

Arguably the most powerful leader in Europe, the German Chancellor and her Christian Democrats (CDU) party face an internal threat of sorts. In the form of Horst Seehofer, the Interior minister and leader of the coalition Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU).

At the heart of the political confrontation is Merkel’s refusal to turn back those seeking asylum in Germany to their first EU point of entry. Indeed, back in 2015 she took the bold step of revoking the Dublin Protocol to permit entry to Syrian refugees who had passed through border countries. Over the following year, the influx totalled one million. Though this being Fortress Europe, much of the continent’s English-language media still insist on using the term ‘migrant’; fully-loaded with hints of economic opportunism.

From that point onwards, the Chancellor’s detractors have been busy penning her political obituary. Fast-forward to the present and the issue appears to have little to do with wishing to see Merkel come entirely undone. After all, if the coalition collapsed, it is quite possible that the CDU would make significant gains in Bavaria; something it has not thus far pursued reportedly out of respect for the CSU. Rather the point being pushed home to Berlin is that Bavaria is taking the brunt of the ‘migrant’ crisis.

Merkel has responded by pledging to come up with an EU-wide response to the deadlock. This will likely focus on the even distribution of asylum seekers. This is right and just as a means of offsetting the economic burden of host nations. Yet more equitable all round would be for Europe’s governments to rethink their role in the global war machine.

After all, armed conflict does not come cheap. The rush to procure and showcase the latest gadgets of mass destruction means less cash for essential goods and services at home; thereby increasing the risk of more and more of the citizenry falling through already fragile social safety nets. And then there is the not un-small matter of those in far-flung lands who have had their homes, their schools, their very lives decimated. Where are they supposed to go?

Most of Fortress Europe remains as unwelcoming as ever. While those at the helm continue their double game. The rules go something like this: governments may pursue the policy of geo-strategic gains violently and militarily as long as they play unfair and inform those fleeing foreign bombs and bullets that there is absolutely no room at the inn. After all, there is the rise of the far-right to consider. Which, of course, poses an electoral risk to power centres throughout the enlightened continent. So, better to get in there first and beat the extremists at their own game.

In all of this, Merkel was one European leader who demonstrated the fundamentals of compassion. It is now time for the rest of the EU to step up to the plate. Or better still, forego foreign interventions that are never ever waged for humanitarian purposes. But for profit.  *

Published in Daily Times, June 20^th 2018.