Dramatic U-turn of Merkel over migrant policy is only to staying in power

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government remains intact after she reached a deal Monday over the country’s migration policy. She agreed to the latest policy after an insurrection led by her Interior Minister Mr. Seehofer threatened to bring down her coalition, as per local and international media reports.
Mr. Seehofer demanded that Germany should block migrants at the border if they have no papers, or have already registered in another European country. Ms. Merkel, who supports free movement across Europe’s borders, has been opposed to any moves effectively resurrecting border controls until Monday night, when she made the deal to stay in power.
The political crisis is one more sign of a growing rift in Europe between those who want to work together to reduce the number of migrants and refugees entering the bloc, and those who have grown tired of failed attempts to reach bloc-wide agreements and are taking unilateral action. Under Ms. Merkel, Germany has been a bulwark against the rise of the far right in Europe and the increasing turn against migrants.
Even as neighbouring countries turned away those fleeing war and strife in the Middle East, she has welcomed more than a million since 2015, and lobbied for a collective European solution. It is a dramatic U-turn for a leader who has been seen as the standard-bearer of the liberal European order but who has come under intense pressure at home from the far right and from conservatives in her governing coalition over her migration policy.
The move to appease the conservatives exposes her growing political weakness. Merkel will limp on as chancellor–for how long remains the question. The nationalism and anti-migrant sentiment that has challenged multilateralism elsewhere in Europe is taking root – fast – in mainstream German politics.
Thus the last bastion for refugees in Europe closes its borders due to domestic political considerations. Mainly due to the xenophobia of some sections of the German people which has manifested itself in the rise of the far-right parties like AfD .The ultimate price for Angela Merkel’s renewed Chancellorship has to be paid by the poor hapless migrants who are fleeing war and terror in their homelands.