German Chancellor Angela Merkel was named Time’s Person of the Year last week for her “open door” policy on refugees heading into her country. But she’s making headlines again for two seemingly unrelated statements.
On Sunday, the German leader said the country should “drastically decrease” the number of refugees it allows in. Critics of Merkel’s policies have been quite vocal about the strain that an estimated 1 million refugees will place on the country’s resources. The unease about this change is a view widely shared by the German populace. A study published in the German magazine Der Spiegel found that 84 percent of respondents said the large number of refugees coming to Germany will result in “lasting changes” for the country, and more than half are concerned about the danger of terrorism.
Merkel also reportedly dismissed a request from the United States asking for greater military support in fighting ISIS. In responding to an inquiry by Der Spiegel, Merkel said she “believe[s] Germany is fulfilling its part” and doesn’t “need to talk about new issues related to this question at the moment.”
Germany currently has six jets and approximately 1,200 troops deployed in the fight against ISIS.
These two statements from the German chancellor are telling in what they show about the line countries in the EU straddle in developing strategies to deal with the recent flood of refugees. After the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead, French President François Hollande declared that France “is at war” with ISIS, pledging a greater military campaign against the terror group and no cuts in defense spending until at least 2019. But others, such as Germany, have been hesitant to make a larger commitment to the fight.
The terror ISIS spreads across the Middle East and the rising number of refugees heading into Europe are not only just connected; the former is causing the latter. The International Displacement Monitoring Center estimated that 4 million Iraqi citizens had been displaced as of June and 180,000 had sought refuge in other countries. In 2015, asylum applications to rich countries such as Germany, the United States, Turkey, and Sweden have reached their highest point in two decades, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. More than 866,000 applications were submitted, a 45 percent increase over 2013.
Of course, the issue of immigration doesn’t simply boil down to people fleeing war. Some of the migrants are those seeking a better life for economic reasons. But with half of Syria’s population of more than 20 million is displaced due to civil war and the battle against ISIS, it’s clear that the fighting is one of the root causes of this wave of refugees.
Staying out of the fray still has its costs. The cost to Germany to provide for the refugees coming into the country is expected to top $22.5 billion this year alone.
When it is feasible, though, the Daily Iowan Editorial Board believes countries should accommodate refugees. But doing so doesn’t do anything to help change the conditions that create them in the first place. Taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees without committing to stopping ISIS is like placing buckets in front of a leaking dam while leaving the cracks unplugged.