Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz to declare state of emergency over migration

3 comments

1. At the end of the day, you’ve got to give Merz his props—he’s doing what a lot of politicians in Europe wish they could: taking decisive action on migration without waiting for Brussels to sort itself out. Legally, he’s not inventing anything—he’s reactivating a German law that’s been on the books for decades but was politically sidelined since Merkel’s time. And politically, he’s trying to neuter the AfD, which has surged past 20%, by proving the center-right can control borders and still govern competently.

   But let’s be real—this is also deeply hypocritical if you take Germany at its word post-WWII and especially post-2015. For decades, they positioned themselves as the EU’s conscience on human rights, asylum protections, and multilateralism. Merkel let in over a million refugees and stood by it with “We’ll manage this.” Germany helped write the EU asylum rules that say you can’t just turn people away at the border.

   Now Merz is basically saying, “We’re declaring an emergency—rules don’t apply.” That’s a hard pivot—from being the EU’s moral compass to now operating in legal gray zones and invoking national security to sidestep shared commitments.

   It’s a philosophical 180. And yeah, it reflects broader European fatigue on migration—but coming from Germany, it hits different. Especially when they’ve spent years lecturing Hungary, Italy, and others for doing this exact thing.

   So yeah, give Merz credit for acting—but don’t pretend this isn’t a major break from what “German leadership” used to mean. It’s rule-of-law when convenient, sovereignty when it’s not. Classic case of leading with values—until values become politically expensive.

2. What does this mean for eu free migration? That is one of the unions major strengths and hurting it weakens Europe’s chances of being a united power

3. Merkel and her consequences was a disaster for Germany with her foreign policy. From how she coddled up to Putin which led to them funding Russia’s military remilitarizing, to thinking that she would *never* get blowback from her conservative base by allowing mass migration for cheap slave-like labor.

   I don’t think this will actually fix Germany’s AFD problem because fixing political alienation is not something that is undone in a day or in one act. I commend him for actually trying to neuter the far right by actually trying to court his voter base, but time will tell if he can actually succeed and fix Merkel’s messes.

   The goal with dealing with political radicals or partisans is to actually fix the problems within your own party that has alienated the electorate, that isn’t the same as allying or submitting to their demands of political extremists, but you can’t just cover your ears and hope it just goes away.

Comments are closed.