As thousands of refugees walked to Germany in September 2015, Merkel's government was ready to close the border, a report has found. The plan was stopped at the last minute only because no one wanted the responsibility.
It's a phrase the chancellor has held on to since those decisive months and repeated like a mantra. It's a phrase that advocates have praised and critics have abhorred - but it's also a phrase the chancellor may have doubted herself - even as she was saying it, according to a report published on Sunday.
A new report from the German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" found that, contrary to prior information, Merkel and her grand coalition government planned to close the border with Austria and turn away asylum-seekers in mid-September 2015.
Government unified
The report is part of research for a forthcoming book and cites interviews with high-ranking officials involved in determining German policy at the time. On September 4, Merkel opened the borders for thousands of refugees who had been stuck in Hungary, saying it was necessary on humanitarian grounds.
However, on September 12, Merkel and her ministers agreed to send thousands of police to shut the southern border with Austria where refugees who had been traveling through the Balkan route were crossing into Germany.
On a conference call with Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (CDU), Bavarian state Premier Horst Seehofer (CSU), then-Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), an agreement was reached to shut the border the following evening.
They also all agreed to turn away asylum-seekers at the border.
Possibly illegal move
Indeed, in the original draft order to Germany's federal police force, the government instructed officers to reject migrants who did not have the required papers - "also in cases of asylum-seekers."
However, members of the Interior Ministry questioned the legality of the border closure and rejection of asylum-seekers on September 13. De Maiziere called Merkel to update her on the situation.
According to the report, Merkel did not make a decision but demanded assurances from de Maiziere that the border closure would hold up in court.
She also reportedly wanted to limit bad press that would have arisen from pictures of German authorities enforcing the border closure and their interactions with refugees.
Change of plan in final hour
Hours before the order was supposed to take effect, de Maiziere was unable to obtain guarantees that the border closure plan would be legal in the form government ministers agreed to.
No leading German politician was willing to take responsibility for the possibly illegal decision at the end, "Welt am Sonntag" said it its report.
Germany's Interior Ministry said in a statement that it could "neither confirm nor deny" the report.
rs/sms (AP, KNA)
New arrivals fall, asylum requests soar in 2016
Germany recorded a sharp decline in the number of asylum-seekers entering the country in 2016, but requests for political asylum increased by over 56 percent as compared to 2015.
Image: dapd
First-time applications in 2016
A total of 722,370 first-time applicants filed requests for political asylum in Germany in 2016, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The number reflects a roughly 65 percent increase compared to the previous year, when the total number of new applications stood at 441,899.
Image: picture-alliance/arifoto UG/M. Reichel
Follow-up requests 33.3 percent lower
The number of follow-up applications, however, recorded a decline of 33.3 percent. In 2015, 34,750 second-chance asylum requests were filed with BAMF, whereas in 2016 the number fell to 23,175.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. von Erichsen
Total asylum requests 56 percent higher
Combined, the number of first-time and follow-up applications for 2016 stood at 745,545. In 2015, this number stood at 476,649. So, BAMF recorded a 56.4 percent net increase in the total number of asylum requests in 2016 compared with 2015.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hadem
Applications from Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis
The highest number of requests in 2016 were filed by Syrian nationals. According to BAMF’s report, people from the war-torn Middle Eastern state submitted 266,250 of the new applications (36.9 percent). Afghan nationals came in second, with 127,012 (17.6 percent), followed by Iraqis, who filed 96,116 asylum requests (13.3 percent) last year.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Gurel
Other prominent countries of origin
People from Iran filed 26,426 applications (3.7 percent). Eritreans submitted 18,854 applications (2.6 percent). Albanians totaled 14,853 (2.1 percent), 14,484 people from Pakistan requested asylum (2 percent), and Nigerians submitted 12,709 applications (1.8 percent).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
Young males make up majority of applicants
Nearly three-quarters of the applications filed in 2016 came from people younger than 30 years old. People aged between 18 and 25 filed 196,853 asylum requests, or about 23.5 percent of the overall total, making them the largest age group. The number of applications for children under the age of 4 stood at 78,192 (10.8 percent).
Image: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach
Almost 700,000 decisions reached in 2016
German authorities accepted 433,920 people of the 695,733 applications they decided on in 2016. The overall protection rate for all countries of origin amounted to 62.4 percent.
Image: Reuters/S. Loos
Crimes against refugee centers still high
Ranging from vandalism to arson, more than 900 attacks on refugee centers were recorded in Germany in 2016. The Federal Criminal Police Office reported that, out of the 921 recorded offenses, 857 were suspected to have had far-right motives. In 2015, 1,031 such offenses were recorded, 923 of which were suspected of having a far-right background.