Tick tock

According to a poll, the majority of Germans is unsatisfied with the crisis management of the federal government. 64% think that its handling of refugee policy is "quite bad" or "very bad", as a survey of Emnid for TV channel N24 says. Participants were asked Wednesday after the new measures by the coalition were presented.

Strength without Rigour - FAZ

... it referred to the lesson that Germany wants to teach Europe. That has a lot to do with feelings but little with politics. Is there force in the German strength to propel Europe forward? In what direction does Germany want to "pave the way", as Merkel said?

It goes to show how weak Germany's position is in Europe into which it maneuvered itself -with noble intent- when Denmark stopped rail traffic from Germany and closed off a highway. ... The closure ... was a warning shot not only from Copenhagen but also from Stockholm. It happened one day after the Stefan Löfven visited Merkel in Berlin. What did he say to the chancellor? "We can do it!" - ? Certainly not.

... [Her speech] included the sentence that "economic refugees" don't have a place in Germany. ... How is this immigration consistent with the assurance to regulate immigration according to the needs of the host country? How does the chancellor intend to follow through? The administration is not even capable of processing the flood of asylum requests and especially not able to reliably let consequences follow when they're denied.

... the federal government is unable to process asylum requests within three months or -like in other countries- even faster. That is urgently necessary if Europe is to have a functional asylum and immigration policy. That things can't go on like this is apparantly only believable if Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) says it. To draw consequences from that would require not only courage and strength, it would require toughness.

A few posts up we where talking about the AfD.

Alfa and the refugee crisis - Come with me to the adventure land - FAZ

The AfD demands that asylum only be requested in German embassies or refugee camps. The Alfa party founded by Bernd Lucke [former AfD chief] has fanciful solutions too.

Most fanciful of those ideas: send blue helmets to carve out safe havens in conflict zones. But of course the German army should be exempted.

_{Schengen is toast!}