Olaf Scholz Cannot Admit He Was Wrong

With its own interests in mind, Berlin has not given up on the migrant quota scheme, but it would replace mass migration with a new kind of managed migration, Zoltan Kiszelly, Szazadveg's director of analysis told our newspaper.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) at a meeting with migrants and the affected locals in SV Babelsberg, Potsdam, on February 26, 2024 (Photo: DPA Picture-Alliance/AFP/Florian Gaertner)

Berlin continues to push for a mandatory quota

This, however, does not mean that Germany will give up on the migrant quota scheme, as Europe's population is shrinking by about a million people per year and cannot be replenished from within. Indeed, the alternative to ending Schengen is a permanent quota system, the expert said, adding:

On the one hand, the introduction of compulsory German border controls could be seen as a domestic political gesture in the run-up to the elections, but on the other hand, the distribution quota could be an alternative to internal border controls. The Germans want a permanent quota, which would lead to the death of Schengen.

Guarding the EU's external borders is not enough, Mr. Kiszelly explained. As the Germans will send the migrants back to the so-called frontline and transit countries, it will be these countries that will eventually demand the quota.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (center) shakes hands with asylum-seekers as she visits a branch of the Federal Office for Migration and Asylum and an asylum camp in Berlin on September 10, 2015 (Photo: AFP/Bernd von Jutrcze

This is an entirely consistent approach. The Germans have a plan, which may or may not succeed. When former Chancellor Angela Merkel let in the migrants, she hoped to push through a quota, but she failed. However, the Germans have not given up on the idea of an annual quota, which they call 'fair distribution.' There used to be 300,000 migrants arriving in Germany every year, but now there are fewer, with a growing number of so-called Dublin — or internal — refugees arriving in Germany from other EU states.

Olaf Scholz is currently trying to strengthen the Social Democrats and form a coalition with the much stronger Christian Democrats after next year's elections, the expert said. This would keep parties seen as extremist on the sidelines, buy time in terms of the Ukraine war, and help the economy recover.

Cover photo: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) at a meeting with migrants and the affected locals in SV Babelsberg, Potsdam, on February 26, 2024 (Photo: DPA Picture-Alliance/AFP/Florian Gaertner)