Friday night's Paris attacks have polarised public opinion and public debate in Germany over refugees, with a leading Bavarian politician attacked for linking the atrocities to the undocumented arrivals to the country.
Bavarian finance minister Markus Söder said the attacks showed it had been a "mistake" for Chancellor Angela Merkel to open Germany's borders temporarily to refugees. "Paris changes everything. It can't be that we don't know who is coming to Germany and what these people are doing here. This situation must be brought to an end by any means," he said.
With most perpetrators identified so far as French nationals and not refugees, however, Mr Söder was upbraided from all sides, including by his own boss, Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer.
It was “completely disproportionate”, Mr Seehofer said, to focus on the chancellor in these difficult times. “What we don’t need now are efforts to boost public prominence by outdoing one another on instruments and measures,” he said of Mr Söder.
It was a remarkable change of tone for the Bavarian leader who, on the front lines of Germany’s refugee crisis, has been one of the most vocal critics of Dr Merkel, his centre-right political ally.
But in case the German leader thought he was going soft, Mr Seehofer added hours later that he still expected her to impose a migration cap as the number of arrivals this year to Germany headed towards a million and possibly beyond.
“No country on this Earth can take unlimited numbers of migrants, not even the rich and prosperous Germany,” he said, echoing similar remarks last week from federal finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
Last Friday evening, in an indication of how seriously she views growing discontent in her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) over refugees, Dr Merkel made her second talk-show appearance in a few weeks to discuss the issue.
Right thing to do
After recording the show, in which she defended her open-door policy as “the right thing to do”, Dr Merkel was holding a meeting with Mr Seehofer and others on refugees when the first reports from Paris began to filter through.
On Saturday morning, she delivered a statement of sympathy and solidarity with the French people. But her message carried another, urgent, meaning for CDU officials and refugee helpers listening around the country.
“We know that our free way of life is stronger than ever, so let’s give the terrorists an answer: by living our values confidently,” she said.
For now, the Paris attacks appear to have given the German leader a short grace period to order affairs on refugees.
This time last week, Dr Merkel’s office was forced to intervene and halt plans by interior minister Thomas de Maizière to reactivate the EU Dublin migration rules for Syrians, set aside by Berlin in September.
But, after Paris, even he appears to have softened his line, at least for now, warning “urgently” yesterday “not to draw a line” between the attacks and the refugee discussion.
Dr Merkel knows the Paris investigation outcome will be crucial for her authority, particularly if anything is tracked back to Germany.
