Refugee crisis: "We can do it" 10 years on
Addressing the refugee crisis at a press conference on 31 August 2015, then Chancellor Angela Merkel used the the slogan "We can do it" - an expression of her conviction that working together, states and society would be able to cope with the rapidly rising number of asylum seekers flooding into the EU. The media take stock a decade later.
Merkel's statement remains true
Merz could learn a thing or two from his predecessor, the Süddeutsche Zeitung observes:
“Merkel's signature phrase teaches us that courageous action based on high ethical standards can come from the centre of society. It is a call for us to have faith in ourselves, in our own thinking and actions. It's an appeal to resist narratives about decline. Unfortunately, we must observe that this dark desire to criticise everything and everyone is no longer confined to the doom-mongers of the AfD. ... Merkel's call for infinite compassion and support remains valid to this day. ... In fact, Merkel was simply voicing what makes Germany and the EU fundamentally strong: self-confidence, pragmatism and, yes, humanism.”
Orbán foresaw the consequences
The Hungarian Prime Minister's concerns have been confirmed, writes State Secretary Máriusz Révész (Fidesz) on the pro-government newssite Index:
“Back then, there was only one political leader, Viktor Orbán, who warned of the serious consequences of these decisions. He said at the time that if we let everyone in without controls and even encouraged them to come, many more people would make their way here. ... He said that the permeability of the EU's internal borders was based on control of its external borders, and that if we do not control the external borders, sooner or later we would end up introducing controls at the internal borders. And we all remember what the reaction was and still is to his 'inhumane' position.”